


Unexpected Miracles

by Luke_Jace



Category: Original Work
Genre: A LOT of Angst, Age Regression/De-Aging, Angst with a Happy Ending, Asexual Character, Asexuality, Bisexual Male Character, Bisexuality, Developing Relationship, Established Relationship, Gen, Just So We're Clear, LGBTQ Character, LGBTQ Themes, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, The teen rating is due to swearing and mentions of abuse throughout, Trans Character, Trans Male Character, agere, first person POV, hopefully, if you dont get one of the references pls just ask me and ill explain, it doesnt feature anything most fics in this tag have, like phineas and ferb or musicals, physical regression, second childhood, that's a bit of a spoiler but i dont care, the regression is a coping mechanism for a character btw, there's gonna be references to things i enjoy, therell be specific tags before each chapter
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-16
Updated: 2021-01-27
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:34:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 68,756
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21836809
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Luke_Jace/pseuds/Luke_Jace
Summary: Nothing in the world can prepare you for what the future holds, in all honesty. Anything can happen. You could win the lottery, you could lose your eyesight completely, you could find out your town hosts a murderous clown, you could find out you're the son of Satan, you could run into a complete madman (or woman) with a phone box looking thing that's "bigger on the inside" which you're sure is just a way to lure you in.Or you could simply just find out your boyfriend's cousin that you've been babysitting for is coping with his childhood trauma by involuntary regressing to a mindset of a three-year-old. And so now I, I mean you, have to watch over him on alternating days, all while dealing with transphobia and homophobia at home. And all of this can completely change your future in ways you would have never expected, and hey, maybe it's a miracle.
Comments: 7
Kudos: 2





	1. And So It Begins

**Author's Note:**

> "The sky is a beautiful mix of purple and orange
> 
> The warmth of your hand makes butterflies fly in my chest
> 
> And for once I can breathe because I am next to you
> 
> As we lie staring at the sky as the sun sets"
> 
> (Trigger Warnings: very mild, but references to death and car accidents, a bit of transphobia and homophobia (squint to see it kind of), and of course the reoccuring theme of one character's past childhood trauma. Nothing goes into too deep, yet.)

I never expected that my life would end up taking such an odd turn. I had such a normal life, right? I had two parents who always fought and talked about divorce, but would never actually go through with it. A twin brother, Bryan, who was sometimes my polar opposite, as he was going through what I refer to as his "e-boy" phase. He dressed in nearly all black, never shut up about whatever his newest music obsession was, actually never shut up at all. Basically an emo phase except stylish. I had a boyfriend, Adam, who was deemed perfect because he accepted me for who I was automatically. I only had one other friend in my life, Cas, giving me a grand total of three people in my life to properly rely on. Yeah, the typical backstory from any story from 2016, right? That's what I thought. 

Out of nowhere, my mother began bugging me about getting a job. Not my brother, oh no, because my brother was apparently a lost cause to her because he never listens to her anyway. We'll leave why he never listens for another day. Regardless, I agreed with needing a job, but nowhere in a fifty-mile radius was hiring people under eighteen. Since I had just turned seventeen the month this was going down, I had no choices of where to work. 

Then, my boyfriend brought up how his cousin and his cousin's wife were looking for a babysitter for their kids since after-school daycare was getting expensive. At first, I was against it for a few reasons. 

"But… I'm a guy, I mean," I said. 

"Congrats love, I know. They don't care. Well, Rodney doesn't care. I doubt Elizabeth will either, but I don't know," Adam replied. 

"But kids are… eh. They're loud and messy and.. I can barely handle my brother and he's seventeen."

"Don't worry, they're not like your brother by a longshot. Look, I'd babysit them but… It's hard enough getting to school when my brother and I are sharing a car. I can't drive over there every day and it's not like they can just drop the kids off at my place if they're at work, you know. They're great though. Sage is so into helping out with her siblings, so if you have trouble, she's there. Dylan's well behaved for a nearly-four-year-old. And Bella's one and a half I mean. What kind of trouble is she going to stir up?"

"How old is Sage again?"

"She's six."

"What I'm going to rely on a six-year-old to help me? Yeah, sure Adam."

"I just mean she knows about her siblings enough to help. Like she'll tell you what they like and don't like, what her parents usually do, all that jazz. She was very helpful when Rodney first became a part of their family so I'm sure she'll be just as helpful if you start babysitting."

I tilted my head, "What do you mean?"

"Oh, Bella's his biological kid, but Dylan and Sage aren't. Their dad, uh, passed away before Dylan was born apparently."

"Oh. Damn, I'm sorry."

Adam nodded, "Uh, anyway. I think it'd be a good job for you. Since they live on your street so you don't have to really drive anywhere. Anyways I can visit sometimes when I have the car and the time to do so."

"I don't know."

"At least think about it, okay?"

And so I did think about it. Adam introduced them to me and eventually, I ended up agreeing to do it. Part of me wonders what would have happened if I hadn't agreed to do it. Would life be that different, or would life still have worked out the way it did?

The plan was that around four o'clock, the kids would get back from either school or daycare, which was two hours after I got home from school as well. I would be there until about eight o'clock, maybe later, maybe earlier if Rodney came home early. Sometimes Adam would come by and help out, which was usually after his brother got back from work. In that case, his brother would go home and Adam ended up staying the night either at Rodney's or my house and get a ride with me to school. 

Weekends, on the other hand, were different. Firstly, Dylan and Sage were usually at friends' houses. Usually, Rodney would be home, so I didn't need to watch Bella. There were times he would call me up or even come over and ask if I could watch them for a little bit so he could run out and do something. Since I was rarely ever actually busy, I agreed to. An hour or two would pass, he would get back, give me a few bucks and I'd go back home. Everything was fine and dandy, great pay and kind of easy to do. What more could a teenage boy like me need in a job?

About five months after I began babysitting, I ran into the thing that changed my life. I was staying home due to being sick. That morning had begun with my mother giving me a huge lecture because I had apparently missed way too many days and how I wouldn't get away with that in college. I had only missed four days that entire school year and one of them was because I intentionally skipped school due to it being my birthday and my brother had convinced me to go with him and his friends to Superplay instead. I had apparently missed some big fight between two random kids in our English class and that had been the extent of what I had missed that day. Not to mention it was nearly the end of the year.

That afternoon I decided to get the mail and glanced over to their house. Rodney's car was sitting in the driveway. That struck me as odd, but I figured maybe he was just sick or maybe one of the kids was sick. The more and more I thought about it, the more and more I just wanted to know what was up. I decided I'd take some soup over, as I had a ton for myself and figured whoever was sick, if anyone was, would appreciate it. 

"What are you doing?" my mother asked me as I was pouring some soup into a container.

"I'm bringing soup over to Rodney, I think he or one of his kids is sick and so he's home."

She rolled her eyes, "Okay, well, I'm heading out. Tell your father he can make his own damn dinner."

"Okay," I mumbled out, looking back at the container and putting the lid on, "he'll definitely make something and not just order takeout, sure."

I headed out the door and headed over to Rodney's. I knocked on the door and got no answer so I tried the doorknob and realized it was unlocked. I proceeded to open the door and headed inside. Nothing had prepared me for what I was walking in on. 

Sitting in the living room was Rodney, playing with a toy car while some movie was playing on the television. The movie looked straight out of my childhood and I realized it was. Before approaching Rodney, I took a look into the kid's rooms, seeing if one of them was there and napping. Maybe Rodney was just messing with the toy because he had nothing better to do? The movie was playing because it had been before they went to sleep? Anything to make sense of what I had just seen. But alas, no regular-sized child insight. I went back into the living room and approached Rodney, kneeling down. I could hear him making car noises under his breath, he was actually playing with the car as a proper child would. 

"Hey, Rodney?" I asked. 

He looked at me, his dark brown eyes full of wonder as he let out an excited greeting and waved to me. I stared at him, completely puzzled. This man had the mentality of a child, didn't he? Was that possible? At least, was it possible for someone to actually switch between mentalities as he would have? I knew some people would act like a child for whatever reason, but that isn't what was happening. He would be mortified if someone saw him like that, especially with it being me who saw him that way. 

"What are you doing?" I asked, trying to hide any expression, even though my body felt very tense and my head was hurting with all the yelling I was doing inside.

"Playin. Wanna join?" he asked with a smile. 

I shook my head, "No, I'm fine. Say, how old are you again?"

He held three fingers up, "Drei!"

I took in a deep breath and got up, walking off to the kitchen. I put the soup down on the counter and sighed, leaning against the counter as I tried to process what I had just walked in on. I stood there for at least fifteen minutes, trying to decipher what I had witnessed and figure out what to do. I began rummaging through the pantry, looking for something to either make or eat, anything to get my mind off of it for the moment. 

"Who's here- Oh," I heard from the archway. 

I looked over and saw Rodney standing there, all color drained from his face. 

"Hey," I said, as if I hadn't just seen him twenty minutes ago acting like a child.

"When did you get here?"

"Like, twenty minutes ago? I walked up to you and said hi and asked what you were doing?"

"Oh, shit. So you saw me… ah," he asked, holding his hands in front of himself, his shoulders slumping as he mumbled, "I guess that's why I'm back."

"Yeah, you were playing with a toy car. Don't you remember me saying hi?"

"No, I don't remember what happens when I'm… like that. It's hard to explain."

"Well, try and explain, please. I'm confused."

He sighed, "It's like I get amnesia, kind of. I forgot everything from when I was three to now. So I act like a child. It gets triggered at random times and most of the time I don't know why. But then once I come back to… normal, I forget what went on during that time."

"Do you know what's causing it? Like why does it happen like that?"

"I had a shitty childhood and my mind can't handle it, I guess? Someone said it could be PTSD, but I'm not sure," he answered, looking to the floor. 

"Haven't you gotten it checked out?"

"No."

I rolled my eyes, "So you just stay here when you turn younger? All by yourself?"

He nodded, "I mean, sometimes I go to Adam and Harry's but. They're not always home. So I stay here."

"But you don't have an adult mind at all when you turn younger?"

"No."

"Then... I'm… coming over whenever these happen. Whenever I can, I'm coming over."

"What- No! I'll be fine!" he exclaimed, throwing his hands up.

"No, you won't!"

"Yes, I will-"

I cut him off, "What if you decide to do something stupid? You just told me you go to Adam's. Do you drive there?"

"Yeah but-"

"Yeah well, you could get hurt doing that! What if you slip while driving? 

"It hasn't happened yet."

"That's not to say it won't! Look, if you're that close to that mindset that you feel you need to go somewhere else, you shouldn't be driving! You could get really hurt! I don't need to hear on the news or from Adam that you got into a car accident!"

I heard him sniffle as tears began forming in his eyes, "Sorry."

I cursed under my breath, realizing I had triggered him, "Hey, shh, it's alright, it's not your fault. Don't cry."

I patted his back and led him back to the living room, "Here, sit down and continue watching your movie. I'll be right back, I'm going to grab a few things from my house, okay?"

He nodded and sat down on the couch. I headed over to my house and began grabbing a few things, including my laptop and the charger, as well as a green stuffed bear I had in my closet, shoved away. I figured he might like it, and if he didn't then one of his kids would. I shoved everything into my bag and headed back over to the house. I saw he had lied down on the couch and was falling asleep. I put my stuff down gently and sat on the other couch. I pulled out my phone and texted Adam.

_ "Hey, any way you can come over to Rodney's today? Bit of a crisis going on." _

_ "I'll try my best." _

_ "Thanks, love you." _

I began playing random games on my phone and at some point, I ended up falling asleep as well. When I awoke, I realized that Rodney had disappeared. I got up and was about to panic when I heard a beep from the kitchen. I headed towards the kitchen and saw Adam making food while Rodney was watching. 

I leaned against the archway, "When did you get here?"

Adam glanced at me, "About ten minutes ago."

"Did I leave the door unlocked?" 

Adam nodded, "Yeah. You did."

"Shit."

"Should I trust you babysitting my niblings if you can't remember to lock a door?" he said, kind of smirking at me. 

"Niblings?"

"Yeah, like siblings but with an N. It's the neutral version of nephew and niece."

"Nibling."

"Yes."

I rolled my eyes, "Yeah, I think they'll be fine, Adam. I didn't remember due to the utter shock that was going on as I learned something new about your cousin, after all."

"Okay, valid, but that raises another thing. Should I trust you with him?"

"Yes, but why isn't there usually someone around anyways? From how it looks, he really shouldn't be alone in this state."

"There's really nobody to be around during this most of the time. My brother works, I have school."

"What about his wife? Or your parents?"

"You think Elizabeth knows? She would flip out if she knew. And my parents live in Georgia, Flynn. Us three couldn't handle our hometown, that's why Harry, Rodney, and I all moved down here. Well, Rodney clearly moved down way before us but."

"Wait. His own wife doesn't know what's going on?!"

"No, but-"

"All of this just sounds so… fucked up!"

Adam fell silent and looked to Rodney, which caused me to look at him as well. He looked frozen in his spot as he was staring at the counter, blankly. 

"Rodney?" Adam said, placing his hand on the counter. 

Rodney slightly jumped back and shook his head, "Huh? What's up?"

"You alright?"

Rodney nodded, taking in a deep breath, "I… I hate this."

Adam nodded in response, "I know."

Rodney glanced around and spotted me, "Oh, hey. Uh… Wow, jeez, you have morbid thinking, huh?"

I took a moment to realize what he was referring to, "Oh, uh. Well, it's not wrong. You need to be safe."

"Ah, yes, but a car accident? Really?"

Adam looked at me, "What?"

"I said it's unsafe for him to try to drive to your guy's place if he's on the edge of that happening because he-"

Rodney put his hand up, "Please don't."

"I understand it," Adam said, "there's just no way for me to get over here when it happens, I don't have a car, my brother usually does."

"Well, something needs to be done. I offered to come over when I can."

"I'll be fine-" Rodney began to say.

Adam cut him off, "Flynn kind of has a point, though. It's not really safe."

"I've survived eight years on my own, I think I'm fine," Rodney said, glaring at Adam. 

"I don't think it'll hurt if he comes over when he can to make sure you're okay like that."

Rodney looked at me, "You're really going to take time out of your day to worry about some twenty-six year old who acts like a three-year-old for no good reason?"

I nodded, "I already worry about your kids, what's one more?"

"From the time you get home until my kids do, it's two hours. Not that big of a deal in the grand scheme of it."

"Yeah, well, once summer starts it'll be different."

Adam added, "And I can come over too then, I can get Harry to drop me off before he goes to work."

Rodney rolled his eyes, "Whatever."

He left the kitchen, pushing past me as he headed off towards his bedroom. I directed my attention to Adam.

"Why didn't you tell me this was a thing before?"

"Because… I figured it was none of your business to know."

I stared at him, "Why not? I could've triggered him, I mean, hell I already did. I'm sure that's not safe."

"Well, I didn't think you would need to know all about my cousin's mental illnesses and what they do to him."

"It would've been helpful."

Adam rolled his eyes, "Do you want to know everything about my family next? How there are at least ten different mental illnesses flowing through both sides of my family?"

"Adam I-"

"How my maternal side is made up of so many different shitty people that my mother sometimes struggles with being a good mom even though she tries her best?"

"Babe-"

"How we don't interact that often with my father's side if at all? How my father struggles with conversing with us because of how he was raised?"

"Hey-"

"Do you want me to start listing off the disabilities too? The physical illnesses that flow through my bloodline? Is that important to you? Because, it sure as hell is important to me since I'm the one living with the possibility of having any of them. But I like to forget about them and not discuss them."

I stopped trying to interrupt him, knowing he wouldn't stop anytime soon. 

"That's not even scraping the surface, because while my parents accept us, my grandparents don't accept anything. And that being the main driving force for my father and aunt leaving them and… If they were just… not so shitty maybe things would be different. Maybe if people were different… or maybe if my parents didn't give me this false sense that people are fucking accepting."

He took in a deep breath and tears were beginning to form in his eyes, "I'm… sorry. I just… We don't discuss it because people don't always take kindly to it. So excuse me for not informing you of it but. Not everything you need to know right away."

I wrapped my arms around him, "I just don't want to end up hurting anyone, including those in your family. You're important to me and so is your family. Trust me, I'm not going to judge anything when it comes to you guys."

He nodded, resting his head on my shoulder, hugging me back, "Okay. Thank you."

"So like… how often does this happen for him?"

"Uh, a few times a week. The usual times are the weekend, sometimes mid-week."

"Alright. Well, this'll be fun."

Adam nodded, "If he ever actually lets you help. He still is going to try and hide it, it's what he always does. Even around our family, he hides it, even though we've known for… thirteen years? I think? It's been a hot minute."

"Ah, sounds great."

In the next few weeks, Rodney stayed pretty distant. Whenever I asked him if he was doing alright, he gave me a generic answer that didn't answer the question in reality. I'd show up to his house the second I got back from school, and if he wasn't home, I'd just chill and do homework or play games until the kids got there. When he was there, he would be trying to force himself to work, but I could sense something was up. Adam had told me not to push it, however, since Rodney would probably flip out. 

Then, one day, something just clicked. It was June 9th and our first day of summer break and I was lying on my couch, waiting for my family to get back home. They had left that morning to visit Sanibel, which was a two-hour drive from my house. Neither my parents nor brother thought it would be a great idea to let me know they were leaving and perhaps invite me. Rather, when I woke up and realized I was home alone without warning, I spam-texted my brother asking what was up. 

Bryan's response was a simple,  _ "We're in Sanibel" _ followed by a picture of a beach. 

Needless to say, I wasn't pleased and I did not respond. 

I heard a knock on my front door and I pulled myself off the couch, grumbling as I answered the door, "What did you forget your- oh."

Standing in front of me was Adam and Rodney. Rodney had his arms wrapped around the green stuffed bear I had brought over weeks prior. 

"Didn't he go to work today?" I asked Adam. 

"Yup and he got very triggered due to it. But he won't let me know what's up. His kids are going to be back from camp in like an hour or so."

"An hour? What time is it?" I asked, walking back towards the couch where I left my phone.

"Four," Adam answered as he entered with Rodney.

"Holy shit."

Adam and I sat down together on the couch, while Rodney decided instead of sitting in one of the chairs, he'd rather sit on the ground. 

"Hey buddy," I said, trying to get his attention, "what happened today?"

He gave me a shrug, hugging his bear to him as he stared at the ground. 

"Did anything good happen today?"

He pointed to his bear, "Found it."

"You found your bear?"

He nodded, still refusing to look up at me. 

"Was that the only good thing that happened?"

"Mhm."

"Well… Hm, can I let you know a secret about that bear?"

He glanced up at me for a second, "Hm?"

"He is a very good listener and never judges anyone for what they say. He just listens and he's there for you. And once you get it off your chest, you feel so much better. I've told him a lot of things when I was younger, he helped me… uh, come to terms with some things. He's who I first… told about said things. But then, I found somebody I could tell those things to instead, because I trust them a lot and I know they won't judge me," I looked over at Adam. 

"Aw, that's sweet," Adam whispered.

"I know. Cas is a great friend, hm?" I said, smirking. 

Adam playfully shoved me, "Oh shush."

We both heard Rodney speak and we looked over to him. He had the bear sitting in front of him as he talked to it, barely above a whisper.

"There was this lady… and she was blonde. She had a kid with her and he… he looked like… me. I… I don't want her coming back. Not now. Not ever."

I looked at Adam, who was still looking at Rodney with so much sympathy. Rodney kept talking to the bear. 

"She looked so much like her…. I know it wasn't but… It was scary."

"Who's he talking about?" I asked Adam. 

Adam looked at me, "Uh. I can't tell you right now."

I groaned, "Why not? You need to not hide-"

Adam put his hand on my shoulder, "I can't right now. I will later. Trust me."

I sighed, "Fine. Okay. What do we do?"

Adam glanced back over at Rodney, "Buddy?"

Rodney looked at Adam, "Uh-huh?"

"Did you know that Flynn draws sometimes?"

"What are you doing?" I asked.

Adam shushed me, "Anyways, he might have some supplies you could use. Would you want to draw something?"

Rodney looked like he was pondering it for a moment before nodding, "Yeah!"

Adam looked at me, "Could you?"

I got up and headed to my room, pulling out some of my less expensive supplies and some paper. I brought them back into the living room and gave them to Rodney. Rodney began drawing something and after a few minutes, Adam grabbed my hand and brought me back to my room. 

"Yeah?" I asked, staring at him. 

"Shh. I can't explain it in front of him, it'll… just trigger him more. Possibly. So, his mom passed away when he was three and he was adopted by a terrible woman, and she was blonde apparently so. He was stuck there for ten years before someone finally realized what was going on and got him out of there."

"Oh."

Adam nodded, "That's why he has this and why he goes to that age, it's right before all that trauma. It's supposed to block out the bad memories, but of course, they come through and he can't process them properly and he connects things wrong."

"That's rough."

"Yeah, it is."

"So, what, he's going to get upset every time he sees a blonde lady?"

Adam shook his head, "I'm sure that's not all that happened. As he said, she had a kid. Maybe she yelled at the kid or something. It probably made him think that she was her."

"Grand. So, how do we handle this? Like properly?"

"Be there for him, listen, not push things. That's all we can really do."

"Okay. So, what do we do about the fact his kids are going to be back soon? He's not going to want them seeing him like this?"

"Shit. You're right, uh, I can take him to my place. My brother should be getting home soon anyways and so we can probably go do something and it'll get his mind off everything."

"Alright."

He left the room to go get Rodney and they headed out, presumably to Rodney's car and went to Adam's. I gathered up a few of my things and headed over to Rodney's, waiting for the kids to show up. 

_ "At least babysitting is only from five onwards, not three,"  _ I texted Adam. 

_ "Wait until Rodney stops hiding this stuff as much, it'll feel like you're constantly babysitting, even if it's just him." _

_ "True." _

I turned on the television and began to zone out as some ghost show was playing. I heard rapid knocking on the door and I snapped awake, pulling myself off the couch. I headed towards the door and opened it, realizing that it was not the kids but rather my brother.

"Holy shit, mom and dad are currently having a fucking aneurysm because you weren't home," Bryan said, sighing as he entered the house, "and holy fuck it was a clusterfuck today. They fight so much."

"Oh, good evening to you too," I mumbled, pulling my phone out as I realized I had several missed calls from my parents and about a thousand texts, "Did they not realize I babysit?"

"I don't know, they're idiots."

"Clearly," I mumbled as I called my father. 

"Fio-" he began to shout into the phone when he answered. 

"Hi Dad, I'm at the neighbors, babysitting, like I do all the time."

"Well, you should've let us know." 

"You should've let me know you were going to Sanibel but you didn't."

"Don't talk back to me young lady!"

I hung up on him and rolled my eyes, "So why are you guys back anyways?"

"We spent maybe an hour max in Sanibel until they got into a huge fight with me about uh… a few things I saw. So we drove back."

"Lovely."

He nodded, "Yeah, uh, so guess I'm babysitting with you. Where are the kids?" 

"Not here yet. I thought you were them, to be honest."

"Alright," he said as he headed into the living room and sat down. 

"So what did you see that caused fights?"

"Uh… well, there was a keychain with our names on a rainbow gradient. That sparked a tiny fight. Then this shop was selling those shitty slogan shirts and one of them said 'my brother has the world's best brother' and I wanted to buy us both one."

"Oh. I see."

He nodded, "Don't worry, I'll find them online and buy them."

"You really got into a fight about shirts?"

"I mean… the fight wasn't exactly about shirts but."

"You know what I mean."

"Yeah, of course, I did, you are the world's best brother and so am I."

"Uh, clearly I'm the only one who is. You are mediocre."

"Uh, excuse me? I was going to buy you a keychain and a shirt as an apology."

"But did you?"

"No, because I got into a fight about it!"

"So, I get into fights all the time. Try harder."

He shoved me, "Fine, next time I'll get a shirt that says sister."

I shoved him back, "A shirt for me that says 'My sister has the world's best brother?' Sure, I'll wear it."

"Ah, mom and dad would have a field day with that."

"They'd just say it was meant for you and I stole it."

The front door opened and we were bombarded with sound. Sage came into the living room, covering her ears, "They're so loud!"

I nodded as I got up, "That they are. They're toddlers."

"Remind me to never have kids," Bryan said to me. 

"As long as you remind me," I said as I went to lock the front door. 

"Flynn, what're we havin' tonight?" Dylan asked me as I was passing by him. 

"Uh…"

"How about McDonald's?" Bryan suggested.

"Bry don't-"

The kids began chanting it and Bryan smirked at me, beginning to chant it as well. 

"You are the worst brother," I mumbled.

"I may not want kids, but I will be the best uncle," Bryan said.

"Hard to do that if I don't have kids, dip."

"I'm their uncle. Kind of. Right?"

"No. How would you?"

"If you marry Adam, and Adam's cousin is also like his brother in a way, that would make you their uncle. And by extension, I'd be their uncle."

"Uh, no."

"Why not?"

"Because you don't have any relation to my husband's family, except my husband himself. You're just brothers-in-law. Like, Harry wouldn't be related to you either."

"Whatever, I'm their uncle now."

"I'm barely even their uncle. It's Adam's cousin's kids."

"But Adam's parents legally adopted Rodney, so legally he's his brother."

Sage interrupted us, "Can we just get McDonald's and not argue about family stuff? All of it is confusing."

"Yes, let's get McDonald's," Bryan said as he got up, "Let's go niblings!"

"Does everyone use that term but me?"

"Yes, get with the times."

"Anyway, we're not going to McDonald's."

Everyone, including Bryan of course, began to pout and groan.

"Why not?" Bryan asked.

"Because we don't have a car, you-... Because."

"We can take our parent's car."

"We are not- No! We are not getting McDonald's. We are eating here. I'll figure something out."

I began heading towards the kitchen.

"I can get a friend of mine to pick it up!" Bryan shouted after.

"No!"

"There's food delivery services!"

"For McDonald's?!"

"Yes! McDelivery!

"No!"

An hour and a half later, we were gathered on the floor in a fort, with a nearly empty pizza box lying on the coffee table and a movie playing off my laptop. Dylan and Bella were both asleep.

"Well, it's not Mickey D's but it was a good dinner," Bryan said to me, "Good job on managing to fuck up spaghetti."

"Then you do better next time."

"I won't. I hate cooking."

"I wouldn't have guessed," I mumbled. 

The movie ended shortly after and we got up, beginning to clean up. Bryan took apart the fort as I carried Dylan and Bella to their room. Sage ended up deciding to go to bed as well, citing that her siblings had worn her out at camp.

"So," I said as I sat down on the couch as Bryan finished cleaning, "you should be going back home before mom and dad kill us both. I don't imagine you told them you were here too."

Bryan sat down on the couch as well, "Yeah, I'm not going back. Not tonight anyways."

"Where are you going to go then? Because I'm going back once Rodney or Elizabeth gets back."

"I don't know. I'll… call a friend or something."

I stared at him and sighed, pulling out my phone. 

"What are you doing?"

I didn't answer him as I began texting our parents.

_ "Hey, Bryan and I are staying at the neighbor's tonight, because neither of the kid's parents are going to be home until late. Something happened with one of their family member's, I'm not sure which, they didn't give many details. They just said 'so-and-so is in the hospital, we have to be there, can you stay overnight' and I can't say no because there's nobody else to watch them. Bryan offered to stay with me so I'm not alone here by myself." _

Afterward, I called Adam.

"Hey, love, Bryan and I need somewhere to stay for the night. Think Rodney and Elizabeth will let us crash here?"

"Well, there's no way Rodney's coming back tonight. You'd have to actually ask Elizabeth."

"Uh, lovely. Uh, okay, so as far as we're concerned, something's happened to your brother and that's why Rodney's not back and that's why my brother and I are here. Uh, I'm pretty sure she works late tonight anyways, so maybe I can use that to my advantage."

"Good luck. Why are you guys trying to stay the night though?"

"Parents problems."

"Oof, good luck."

"Thanks," I said as I hung up.

Bryan stared at me, "Why are you doing this?"

"Because I'm not forcing you back home and I'm not letting you run off with friends at this time of night, especially when they're already mad at us. Might as well lessen the impact."

"By lying?"

"Sure."

Bryan rolled his eyes, "You're supposed to be the smart twin."

"And you were supposed to be the straight one. That didn't work out, did it?"

He gave me a shove, "I hate you sometimes."

"That feeling is very mutual."

I began texting Elizabeth, "Tell me how this sounds. 'Hello, so, Rodney is currently with Adam at the hospital because something happened to Adam's brother, Harry. They're not telling me what, nor answering their phones. Adam just texted me telling me that. So, since you work late tonight I'm pretty sure, is it okay if my brother stays the night as well, at least until one of you guys gets home? We'd prefer it if we can stay until morning since our parents may flip out if we try coming in at what, one in the morning?'"

"Sounds pretty good."

I sent it off and got a response not long after. 

"'No problem at all if you two stay. I'll text you when I'm on my way home.' No concern for her husband's cousin though, alright then."

"She responded that fast? Is she actually working?"

"I would hope so. Maybe she was just using her phone for something anyways. Well, whatever, I'll get us some sheets and pillows."

"I call the big couch," Bryan said, getting up and jumping onto the longer couch. 

I rolled my eyes as I went to get the sheets and pillows. I came back and threw some to Bryan. I lied down on the other couch and started messing around on my phone. I decided to text Adam to see how everything was going. 

_ "How's it going?" _

_ "It's going. I'm on the couch because he took my bed.  _

_ Rodney took it, to be clear." _

_ "I'm also on a couch. Elizabeth showed no concern for your brother, by the way." _

_ "Good thing he's not actually hurt." _

_ "I know right." _

_ "What a great first day of summer vacation. I spent most of it trying to find a ride over to Rodney's work and now watching over him. So fun." _

_ "So fun sounding. Maybe tomorrow will be better." _

_ "Hopefully. I'm going to try and sleep since I know I won't be sleeping in and I'm not getting a good sleep anyways." _

_ "Alright. Goodnight, I love you." _

_ "Goodnight, I love you too." _

Bryan spoke up, "I can hear the gayness from over here."

"I'm texting," I replied. 

"And I can hear it."

"Jealous I have a boyfriend and you don't?"

"I could get a boyfriend, or a girlfriend, if I really wanted to. I just don't."

"Oh, yeah, sure," I said, rolling my eyes. 

"I could!"

"Whatever helps you sleep. Night bro," I said as I grabbed the remote to the fan and turned off the light. 

"You're going to sleep this early? You're an old man."

"Proudly. Goodnight."

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm going to ramble for a minute, you're rarely gonna hear from me except for trigger warnings so. Firstly, if you came to get some kinda kick outta what's going on with Rodney, you're not going to enjoy this fic. It's not age play, it's not gonna go into any territory you think it will. I really would appreciate not reading it if you're into that, but... At least respect me by not writing comments that see him as a little or trying to make what's going on "strange" like. Don't sexualize it, basically.   
> This won't just focus on Rodney, by the way, it'll focus on hopefully a lot more. Also, I have a sequel already working for this, and I think it's just going to be posted as a series of short stories since together it'd be like........ a lot. This is already a lot. It's 60 chapters, all about 6k-8k words.  
> This story will feature quite a bit of references to transphobia, homophobia, biphobia, etc. As well as abuse in a lot of different circumstances. Plus, of course, mentions of mental health and the stigma against it. You will honestly hear Rodney's past story at least ten different times, I'm sorry. Really gotta ingrain that idea. Also, mentioning someone who passed away will be a common theme for a few characters. There's a lot. Like I said, I'll try adding trigger warnings before chapters. If you have specific triggers and you want to actually read this, let me know and I'll add them as I'm posting or even if I've already posted them, I can go back and see if that theme pops up (even if it's something like the mention of frogs) and tag it and/or let you know.  
> Oh the poem, by the way, is kind of like a divider for parts of the story. So this 20 chapters is nicknamed "Sunsets" the next is "Storms" and the last is "Stars"  
> (I may end up changing up the format and have these as separate works? For now, it's all one.)  
> And then finally, I have a Spotify playlist for this book (all the titles are song references)  
> https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5280wZgfg869U5TFF3nJrX?si=ttyRrFn9S1C3cZm3asq3Ag


	2. How To Hide Your Feelings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Spoilers are going to be in the warnings, sorry, safety's more important than keeping plot points hidden)
> 
> Trigger Warnings: panic attacks, references to past abuse and deaths, sibling arguing, and references to parental fighting. (spoilerly warnings) not super noticeable but smoking references, current abuse, and cheating.

Adam and I spent almost every day at Rodney's that summer, even if Rodney himself wasn't home. If that was the case, we would just sit around watching movies or playing video games until it was time to get the kids from camp, which was held at a park nearby, which was less than a five-minute walk. Sometimes, they'd leave with one of their friends and their friends' parents, who would walk them home if we hadn't shown up yet. If Rodney was home, usually one of us stayed behind to figure out how to get Rodney back to "normal" while the other went to get the kids. Usually, it was me leaving, since Adam had a lot more experience when it came to his cousin than me. 

Midway through June, we ran into a bit of a problem, however. It was one of those days where Rodney was home, so we were watching some kid's movie. Scratch that, Adam and Rodney were watching the movie. I was reading a story on my phone and got a bit too involved in it. I heard a knock on the front door and glanced at the time. It was 5:35. 

"Oh no," I mumbled.

"Is that the kids?" Adam asked. 

"Uh, yeah, I think so," I said, getting up. 

Adam looked at Rodney, who was still watching the movie, his stuffed animal sitting on his lap. 

"This will be great," Adam mumbled. 

I nodded as I headed to the front door, unlocking it. I opened the door and Sage entered, Dylan and Bella following after her. 

"Hi Flynn, Hi Adam… What're you guys watching?" she asked, looking at the television. She glanced at Rodney and then looked at me, dropping her voice to a whisper, "And why does he have a stuffed animal?"

"Uhh… Good question… that I will explain after you help me figure out what we're having for dinner," I said, directing her towards the kitchen. Dylan ended up following us as well, while Bella had decided to watch the movie as well, not noticing what was up with Rodney. 

"Why is he home anyways? I mean, I know sometimes he's home, but that's cause he does work. He doesn't look like he's doing work."

"He's uh, not feeling well today. That's all."

"And so he's hugging a stuffed animal? While watching uh… what's the movie?"

Before I could answer, Dylan exclaimed, "Good Dinosaur!"

"Yeah, we just picked a random movie, Sage."

Sage crossed her arms, "Something's up, and I'll find it out."

"By all means, figure it out. But for now, figure out dinner. What do you want?"

She shrugged, "I don't care."

"Spaghetti!" Dylan exclaimed. 

"Seems easy enough. You two want to learn how to make it?"

Sage shook her head as she grabbed a drink out of the fridge, "No. I'm going to figure out what's up."

"Okay, fine, it's fine to be scared to learn," I said, shrugging. 

"I'm not scared to learn. I just don't want to."

"Hey, I said it's fine."

She stared at me and to be honest, I expected another response instead of the one she ended up giving. 

"Fine. I'm scared then. Bye."

She turned on her heel and walked out of the kitchen and presumably to the living room.

"Okay, well, that's not good. He is probably going to end up killing me," I mumbled. 

"Why?" Dylan asked. 

"Uh, nothing. Do you want to learn how to make spaghetti?"

"Sure!"

We got the sauce going first, of course, and then I let the water start boiling. I decided to go check on whatever was going on in the living room and Dylan, of course, followed me out. 

The movie was still running in the background, Adam was staring at his phone, and Sage, Bella, and Rodney were all sitting together on the floor, putting together some sort of racetrack. Sage was seemingly the one directing how it was going to be built. Dylan ran over to them.

"Can I help?" he asked.

"Of course," Sage answered.

"Just don't mess anythin' up," Rodney said. 

Dylan nodded and began helping them. I sat down next to Adam.

"So uh, what do we do about this?" I asked.

Adam shrugged, "No idea. He may end up killing us once he's back to normal so."

"Yeah, that's exactly what I was thinking."

We continued keeping our eye on the kids, making sure nothing went too wrong. I got up after a few minutes to check on the water and when I saw it was boiling, I poured noodles in. 

"So, want to explain yet?" I heard Sage ask from the doorway. 

"Explain what?" I asked, looking at her. 

"Why he's acting like a kid. It's really obvious, he's not normally like this. You know what's up, so."

I sighed, "I can't explain it to you."

"Why not? That's not fair."

"I can't, but he can when he's back to normal. He'll be fine later, I know it."

She rolled her eyes, "I can handle it, you know. I'll be seven in only three weeks, so."

"Yes, I am aware. I cannot explain it though, it's not up to me to tell you, it's up to him. It's what's going on with him, so he gets to explain it, okay?"

She huffed, "I won't be mean about it, just tell me!"

I shook my head, "Sorry Sage."

She stormed off towards the living room. I went back to worrying about the noodles, waiting for them to be done. Once they were, I started preparing plates for everyone. 

"Need any help?" Adam asked, entering the kitchen.

"Yeah, can you set the table?"

"Yeah, of course, babe," he said, grabbing a plate, "ooh, this looks good."

"Thanks."

We set the table up and set the plates down, calling the kids into the dining room. Sage, Dylan, and Bella came in, but Rodney did not. I headed into the living room to see what he was doing. He was now sitting on the couch, staring out the window.

"Rodney?"

He shook his head and glanced at me, "What time is it?"

I pulled my phone out of my pocket, "It's six-twelve."

"Want to explain what I can't remember anything from today, and why my kids have probably been home for an hour now?"

"Uh, I forgot to go pick them up, meaning they got home while you were still young and so uh, yeah."

He glared at me and sighed deeply.

"It's fine, they didn't think much of it."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure. They don't care. Now, c'mon, I made us spaghetti."

He sighed and got up, heading into the dining room with me. We sat down and began eating.

Sage spoke up, "So, why were you acting like a kid?"

"Sage!" I exclaimed.

Rodney shot a death glare at me, "Didn't think much of it, huh?"

She put her fork down and crossed her arms, "Why were you acting like a kid, hmm?"

"It's nothing, sweetie," Rodney said, looking at her, "nothing you need to worry about."

"Fine. I'll ask my mom when she gets home then," Sage said, smirking a bit.

"No! Don't do that!" Rodney exclaimed. He sighed, "I… I'll tell you after dinner, okay?"

"Why not now?"

"It's a serious topic. I'd rather explain it when I'm not trying to eat, okay?"

She sighed, "Fine, but you better tell me."

"I will."

He glared at Adam and I both before going back to eating. Sage continued eating as well. The rest of dinner was mostly silent, aside from Dylan and Bella telling Rodney about their day at camp. Once we were all done, Dylan and Bella ran off to the living room and Adam followed them. I began cleaning up while I heard Sage ask Rodney again what was up. I listened in and looked over a few times as I was cleaning the dishes.

"Okay, fine," he began, sighing, "but you have to understand this is something that you can't just blurt out to people. Not everyone understands it and… your mom surely doesn't understand it and so she doesn't even know about it yet. Okay?"

Sage nodded, "Okay."

"When I was about your age, no, more like Bella or Dylan's age, something happened with my mom. She… She got in a car crash and…"

Sage frowned but nodded, "Like my dad?"

"Yeah. So, uh, there was this lady who adopted me after that happened. She wasn't very nice at all. So, for ten years, it hurt a lot. And so once my aunt and uncle took me in, I began having to find a way to… deal with all those memories of my past. And so my mind would just shut down and go back to how it was before I lost my mother. So, I act like a child to cope with the memories and forget about them for a moment."

"How does that make you deal with it?"

"I just forget about the memories, because when I'm like that, they haven't… happened yet, kind of. When it first started happening, all my memories from three and up disappeared when I was like that. Then, new memories formed. Like if you went back in time and took yourself from before you met me and brought her to today, kind of. She wouldn't know the stuff you've dealt with, and she would know different things than you."

"So you, when you're like that, isn't you then."

"In a way, sure."

"Can you remember what happens when you're like that?"

"I don't have those memories, no. I mean, not exactly. Sometimes memories come through, either way. So, I can remember you telling Dylan not to put one of the cars on the track yet, then Flynn calling everyone to dinner. But anything before that I cannot remember. It'd be like if you came into the room at the same time as your other-self, you two would both remember what's going on. Then if she leaves, you're the one taking in whatever is happening now."

"So, how does that help then?"

"I honestly don't fully know. I guess it stops me from remembering everything and getting upset. And sometimes I just feel better once I'm back, even if I can't remember what happened. And it doesn't always help, by the way. Sometimes it makes it worse. It's not fun at all."

"So… why doesn't my mom know?"

Rodney fell silent. 

"'Cause if it's that important and it does that much to you, she should know."

"It's just… hard to explain."

"You explained it to me!"

"Yeah, well, adults ask a lot more questions and judge a whole lot more. It's not as easy."

She huffed, "That's dumb. You're not meaning for it to happen, right?"

He nodded.

"Then why judge you? It's like… with Flynn and Adam!"

"How so?"

"Well, like, you know. They didn't mean to be boys and to like them too. But they just are and they just do."

Rodney chuckled, "I mean, you're right there but. Honey, people do judge them."

"I know but that's dumb, right? That's what you told me."

"Okay, I didn't say dumb and you know that."

"Still. It's like that. You can't help it. They shouldn't judge you. And I'm sure my mom wouldn't!"

"I don't know. I'll think about telling her now that you guys know. But please, don't tell her, okay?"

Sage nodded, "I promise. You can trust me."

"Thank you."

She left for the living room and Rodney let out a sigh. I walked over and sat down at the table.

"You alright?"

He shook his head, "I'm exhausted."

"You can go sleep, we can watch the kids, we do it all the time."

"No, I'm fine. I'm just… I hate explaining it. And I don't like telling people about it."

"I know. Trust me, I know. Look, I'm sorry that she found out. I didn't know how late it was and I don't think we could've even attempted to get you back to normal. But honestly, I don't think that's healthy to do anyways. I don't know how Adam does it but, to force your mentality back to normal has got to be bad on your health."

"It's fine, I've done it for years."

"I think you need to tell Elizabeth."

"Hell no. I lied to Sage. I'm never telling Elizabeth. She will…" his voice trailed off as he put his head into his hands, "I just can't, okay?"

"Then why are you with her if you can't tell her something important like that?"

He looked at me, "That's a stupid question."

"Is it?"

"I love her, Flynn. That's why."

"So?"

He rolled his eyes and got up, "I'm not discussing this. Especially not with you. Let it be."

I sighed as he stormed off and I headed back to the living room, sitting with Adam. Adam was flipping through movies on Netflix, looking for something for us to watch. I rested my head against him. Adam wrapped his arm around me.

"Any movie suggestions?" he asked. 

"Bee Movie."

"No."

"Shrek."

"No."

"Then I got nothing."

He continued flipping through movies.

"Why won't he tell Elizabeth what's up?"

"I don't know. But don't push it, I'm sure he has his reasoning."

I sighed, "Fine."

He turned on a movie and looked at me, "Don't worry about it. Everything will be fine."

"It better be," I mumbled, "honestly, I'm so tired. I'm still trying to recover from waking up so early all last year, and it doesn't help I still have to wake up early."

"I know. You can sleep if you want."

"Nah. I'm fine."

He kissed my forehead, "Alright, whatever you say, babe."

I cuddled up to him, trying to pay attention to the movie that was playing. Before long I had fallen asleep instead. When I awoke, it was to Adam poking me. 

"What?" I mumbled, sitting up.

"It's nearly ten o'clock, I think you need to get back to your place," he answered.

"Is Elizabeth back yet?"

"No, she's not but it's fine. I'm going to spend the night here, my brother's out with friends tonight."

"I can stay with you."

"No, your parents will probably kill you. It's fine."

I gave him a kiss, "Alright. I'll see you tomorrow."

"See you later. I love you."

"I love you too."

I got up and smiled at him before heading back to my house. I unlocked the door and quietly went to my bedroom. I noticed the room was dark and figured my brother was either asleep or not there. I began searching for pajamas and set my phone on the charger.

"Oh, you're finally home," I heard from the top bunk.

I jumped back and put my hand to my chest, "Jesus fuck you scared me."

He turned on his clip-on lamp and waved to me, "So how was your day?"

"It was fine," I mumbled as I continued searching for something to wear to bed.

"Yeah? Why was uh, what's-his-face home?"

"He was sick."

"Ah. Like he is every other day?"

I glared up at him, "Are you trying to insinuate something?"

Bryan put his hands up, "Is there something I should be insinuating?"

I grabbed a pillow off my bed and threw it at him, "No. He was just sick today and so Adam and I helped around the house."

"Alright. Sure."

"It's the truth."

"Hey, no judgment."

I rolled my eyes and got into bed, "Goodnight, asshole."

A few days later, Sage had decided she didn't want to go to camp and Adam was at an eye appointment with his brother. Rodney, of course, had also stayed home but he was just sitting on the couch with his laptop. I was helping Sage build something in Minecraft when I heard something slam. I looked over and saw he had shut his laptop and it was lying beside him. He had his head in his hands, his entire body shaking.

"Are you okay?" I asked, getting up and walking over to him. 

He looked up at me and his eyes were heavy and bloodshot, "I'm just… tired, that's all."

"Well, then go to sleep. No use in keeping yourself awake."

He shook his head childishly, "I'll be fine."

"Are you sure? It's fine if you need to take a nap, you can continue what you were doing later."

"No, Flynn, I'm fine."

"Repressing it isn't going to make it better, Rodney."

He gave me a glare and then got up, "I'll be back."

"Where are you going?"

"On a walk, to wake me up."

"Okay, we'll come with."

"No. I'm going by myself."

"Rodney-" I started to protest.

"Jesus, let me be," he muttered, pushing past me. I heard him grab his things and walk out. 

I rolled my eyes and went back over to Sage.

"That could've gone better," she commented. 

"It could've. But I doubt it would've."

We went back to playing the game for a few minutes.

"Is he going to be fine?" She asked, glancing at me. 

"Sure he will."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure. Don't worry."

"Yeah, but are you sure?"

I looked at her and sighed, "Fine, let's go after him."

She nodded and shut the game down and went to get her shoes. I grabbed my phone off the charger as well as the key to the house. Sage came back out with her shoes on.

"Yeah, 'cause what if he turns younger on his walk?" she asked me.

"I get it. We're already going."

We headed out the door, locking it behind us. 

"Which way do you think he went?" I asked her. 

"Uh, towards the park? There's a part there he likes to go to when he takes us so."

"Alright."

We started walking towards the park together. 

"Know, I stayed home today so I wouldn't have to come to the park," Sage stated. 

"It was your idea to come after him and to check the park," I pointed out. 

"I know! But still."

I rolled my eyes as we got to the park and headed to where she said he usually went. Lo and behold, there he was, sitting on a bench, messing around with something in his hand until he spotted us. He shoved whatever it was in his pocket and got up. 

"Why are you here?" 

"We came to check on you," I answered. 

"We wanna make sure you don't get hurt," Sage added. 

A small smile crossed his face as he looked at her, "Well, thank you but I'm fine." 

He glanced at me, his smile disappearing, "You don't need to check up on me." 

"We wanted to, Rodney. We care about you. All of us." 

He rolled his eyes, "Whatever, I'm fine. Go back home." 

"If you come with." 

"No." 

"Then we're staying," I said, crossing my arms. 

"You're insufferable. Fine, let's go."

We started walking back to the house together. Sage was in front of us, her pace much faster than us. Rodney was a few steps behind me, dragging along. We were approaching the house when he suddenly stopped. I stopped and turned around.

"What's up?" I asked.

He glanced at the house and then back at me, "Are… Are you gonna do somethin' to me?"

"What do you mean?"

"Like… hurt me," he mumbled, looking at the ground. 

"What, no! I wouldn't hurt you, why… No, I'm not," I said, approaching him. 

He stepped backward, putting his hands up, "I… I'm sorry."

"Hey, you're fine. C'mon, let's go inside. Nothing's going to happen to you, I promise," I said, putting my hand out.

He looked at my hand and then up at me, "Really?"

I nodded, "Really. I'll call Adam when we get inside and see if he'll be showing up today. You can talk to him as well."

Rodney slowly took my hand and we continued walking to the house. We got to the front door, where Sage was waiting, and I unlocked the door. 

"You guys walk slow," she said as she entered the house. 

"We had to stop for a moment, Sage," I said, letting go of Rodney as we walked inside. 

"You still walk slow, though."

I rolled my eyes, "Alright, whatever you say."

I pulled out my phone and called Adam. 

"Hey, we're just leaving now. Guess what they concluded."

"What?" 

"It's a big shocker, you may want to sit down for this one."

I threw my head back, "Just tell me."

"He's, hold on, get this, blind in one eye."

"Wow, this is new information, totally didn't know," I said, rolling my eyes, "What do you mean they 'concluded' that?"

"They still made him try and see with that eye during the tests. Like as if it magically is going to work, you know. And like his eye is completely white. Clearly, there's something up with it, you know."

"Why did they do that?"

"Because it's a new doctor or some shit. Apparently, that's not the stupidest that's happened though, the technician told me they made a kid who is totally blind go through the tests, even though she's been blind her entire life and that vision isn't coming back. Apparently it was for insurance reasons but. She'd already been seen before when she was a kid, when she was diagnosed."

"Wow, that's… Wow. So what about his other eye? Or did they forget to do that one, even though that's why y'all went?"

"No changes, he's fine in that aspect. But apparently, my eyes are not perfect."

"Aw, are you going to need glasses? You'll look great in glasses."

"Oh, fuck that. Nah, they said it's not that bad yet. I mean, my mom said it's the same deal with her, it's a bit off but glasses annoy her and she doesn't want to deal with contacts."

"Am I going to have to fight you one day to wear glasses?"

"Probably."

"Wait, did they dilate your eyes?"

"You betcha. So Harry's driving me."

I saw Rodney looking at me, waiting for me to hand the phone to him.

"Alright, well, Rodney wants to talk with you for a moment."

"Alright."

I handed the phone to Rodney.

"Hi," he mumbled out.

I could barely make out Adam asking Rodney what was up.

"Nothin' just wanted to say hi… Yeah, I'm okay… Well, okay, not really… I 'on't want her hurting me… Ms. Asher… Yeah."

I headed over to where Sage was, letting Rodney talk to Adam alone. I sat down at the table and Sage looked at me.

"Who's Ms. Asher?"

"I think the lady who had adopted him when he was younger."

"Why does he remember her name then? I mean, isn't this suppose to make him forget about her?"

That hadn't dawned on me, "Hmm. I think he was probably thinking of her before he switched and so the name got stuck in his head, maybe?"

"Maybe. Is he gonna be okay?"

"Yeah, he'll be fine."

Sage and I went back to playing Minecraft together while Rodney talked with Adam. After a few minutes, he handed the phone back to me. 

"So, I know she's in jail," Adam started, "but can I please fight her? She fucked him up so badly."

"I wish we could, love. But we cannot," I answered.

"That's biphobia."

"How so?"

"We're bi and it upsets me, so biphobia."

I rolled my eyes, "That's not how that works."

"It's how it works now. Anyways, we should be there soon."

"Alright, see you then."

"See you soon. I love you."

"I love you too."

I hung up and saw Sage staring at me. 

"What?" I asked.

"Do you guys always say I love you?"

"Yeah, we say it quite often, why?"

Sage shrugged, "My mom doesn't say it that much. If ever. It's just… interesting."

I shrugged, "It's a personal preference thing. Some people never say it unless in a very specific way for a very specific reason. Some people don't say it until very far into a relationship. Then some people say it all the time and don't have specific reasons to say it, they just say it."

"Why is that?"

"I don't know, to be honest. I just know that for me, it's kind of in the middle. I say it a lot but I also mean it when I say it, I don't just throw it out there randomly."

Rodney spoke up, "Adam says that he loves you a lot. Even before you two were together."

I smiled a bit, "I'm sure he did. He's one to tell a door that he loves it."

"Yeah, but he said it a lot."

Sage agreed, "He told me about you before. He didn't stop talking about you the entire time. 'He's so cute' and 'he's so cool' and 'I wanna marry him.'"

I chuckled, a slight brush crossing my cheeks, "Well, I don't think we'll be getting married anytime soon, so as much as he wants that, it'll be a while."

"Do you wanna marry him?"

"Maybe. I mean… I want to be with him for the rest of my life, so. But marriage is also a big deal. It connects two people in a very official way. You promise to be with that person and only that person for the rest of your life, basically."

"Well, my mom didn't do that," Sage mumbled.

"What do you mean?"

Sage gave me a look as if she said something she shouldn't have. 

"Uh, I just mean that, uh… Well, she's with Rodney, right? But she was with my dad before."

"Yeah, but… It's different. I mean, you can realize that you're not right with someone and be with someone else, it's just harder to do when married. There's a lot of work to do to leave a marriage compared to the relationship I have with Adam. There's nothing tying us together right now, we may have to do a bit of clean-up like telling people we're not together or deleting any references to us being boyfriends online, but… Well, with Rodney and your mom, there's the fact they both have their names on this house, on their cars, they have a child together, all that. And with the case of your dad, he passed away and she's not with him anymore in the case."

"Oh, makes sense."

"Oh, does it?"

"Kind of. So like… can you be with someone that's not Adam right now?"

"No, not really. We're in a serious relationship, so no, doing that would be wrong."

"And it's really really wrong if someone who is married does that?"

"Yeah."

She nodded, "So, why… would someone do that?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Just wondering."

"Uh, I don't know. It's not right though. But, some people just… don't know how wrong it is and how to end things so that it's not as wrong, I guess. Why?"

She shrugged, "My teacher said her husband did that. She was really sad for a while."

"She told you guys her husband cheated?"

"No, I heard her say it to another teacher during recess."

"Oh."

"Yeah, she also said his mom is a birch tree."

"A… what?"

"Like, you know, the trees that are in Minecraft? Birch."

"How did she say his mom was a birch tree?"

"She said 'he's a son of a birch.'"

I stifled a laugh, "Oh, okay."

Rodney tapped my shoulder, "Hey?"

"Yeah?" I said, looking at him.

"Can I play?" he asked, looking at the screen.

"Go ahead," I said, getting up. 

He sat down and Sage and he became engaged in building something together. I went into the living room, lying down on the couch. 

_ "Hey, Bry. Apparently, Sage's teacher's mother-in-law is a birch tree." _

_ "She's a what?" _

_ "A birch tree." _

_ "How so?" _

_ "Well, she said to a fellow teacher once 'he's a son of a birch' when talking about her husband." _

_ "He's a wHAT? _

_ SON OF A BIRCH?" _

_ "Yeah." _

_ "You're canceled. You're no longer my brother." _

_ "Sage said it, not me." _

_ "Oh my god. I'm coming over and teaching her swear words so this mistake doesn't happen again." _

_ "You are not corrupting my niece!" _

_ "I am doing it for her own good. Better learn the swears now. Then she can't accidentally swear not knowing what it is and get in trouble." _

I rolled my eyes and left the conversation, going to play some game on my phone. A few minutes later the front door swung open. 

"Professor Bryan Perry here for Swears 101, let's go," he said, entering the house. 

I stared at him, taking note of one of the sleeves missing on his shirt, "Rocking one sleeve, huh?"

He nodded, "It's a new style, ripping off one of your sleeves."

"Looks pretty authentic. Did you buy it like that?"

"Uh, yeah I did."

"That's stupid, to be honest. Selling clothes that are already pre-distressed and torn up for probably hundreds of dollars."

"Yeah, you're right," he mumbled, shaking his head, "anyways. What are we doing today?"

"Waiting for Adam to get here," I answered. 

He looked over to the dining room and saw Rodney and Sage, "Oh, Minecraft, lit."

He walked over, watching them playing, "What are you guys building?"

"A mansion!" Rodney exclaimed. 

"It's gonna be a redstone mansion," Sage added, "we're trying to figure out the door right now."

"It's really hard, though," Rodney mumbled. 

Bryan pulled a chair over, "I'm pretty good at redstone, much better than Flynn. But don't tell him I said that."

"I can hear you," I exclaimed as I sat up.

"Shh, no you can't."

I rolled my eyes, "Whatever. At least my buildings look nice."

"And yet your treehouses are always the same."

"It looks good!"

"Does it? Does it really?"

"Fine, then you do better than me. I dare you."

"I'll do it later."

He began directing them on what to do to make what they were trying to build work. I ended up getting up and going back over to see what they were doing. They had a door set up at the front and were working over trying to see if they could make stairs that come out of the wall. 

"Shouldn't you work on the second floor before trying to make stairs to it?" I asked.

"No, because then we might not have the space needed for the redstone. We make the redstone and then use the second floor to cover up the redstone," Bryan explained. 

"Alrighty then," I said as I grabbed a chair as well, "but I am helping with how it looks."

"Alright, go ahead."

About twenty minutes later, we were arguing over how to build something. Sage had gotten up and left, not wanting to hear it. Rodney was still sitting there, completely still as Bryan and I went back and forth. 

"It'll look so much better if we use carpets though!"

"But that won't work for the pistons-"

"Who cares?! Not everything has to use redstone!"

"I want it to!"

"And I want carpets!"

"You always get what-"

We were cut off by a loud knocking sound from behind us. 

"Knock it off you two!" 

We both turned around and saw Adam and Harry standing there. Rodney jumped out of his seat and ran over to Harry, throwing his arms around him. I could hear him sniffling and Harry glanced down at him, wrapping his arm around him as he pulled his hand away from the archway.

"Are you two really arguing about Minecraft?" Harry asked, glaring at us. 

"I'm not surprised," Adam said. 

"I just want to use pistons and we can't if he uses carpets," Bryan explained. 

"I just want to use carpets because they look better because it actually looks like a rug," I explained. 

"You two are acting more like kids than the one here who is mentally a kid," Harry said. 

"What do you mean by that?" Bryan asked. 

Harry gestured to Rodney, who let go of Harry and stood beside him. 

"He's what now?"

"Mentally a kid… Oh, you don't know, do you?"

Bryan shook his head, "I mean, I could kind of tell something was up but. Clearly, Minecraft does something to us, so."

Harry sighed, "Sometimes he ends up acting like a child because of a lot of shit he dealt with as a kid. It's like dealing with a literal three-year-old who's just in the body of an adult. His memories are from when he was three added with any he's made in this state."

Bryan nodded, "Alright, that's uh… interesting. So, is that why Flynn's over here so goddamn often?"

I spoke up, "Yeah. It is. I don't want him getting hurt or anything if he's here by himself like that."

"Damn. So not only do you babysit his kids, but you babysit him."

"Uh, yeah, pretty much."

"You better be getting paid a lot."

"I do it because I care, Bryan."

"You're better than me then, I'd be wanting those big paychecks."

I rolled my eyes, "Whatever."

I could sense him wanting to continue talking but he saw Harry was staring at him and backtracked, "I'm kidding, of course. I mean, I don't know if I could do this all but yeah, I'd do it if I cared as much as you do. Not to say I don't care, I just don't know him or y'all or anything you know."

"I'm sure they'd love for you to help," Harry said, "I wouldn't mind seeing you help out, if you can manage to not get into a fight about Minecraft."

"He probably wouldn't mind just seeing you," Adam mumbled. 

Harry elbowed Adam, "Shut up."

Bryan replied, "Uh, yeah, maybe, uh… If you guys ever, uh, go out anywhere, I'd be happy to join. I'm, uh, always out and about doing things, I can't be stuck inside for too long so, you know. I couldn't do what Flynn does, you know. So, yeah, I'd be happy to do something with you… you guys, of course."

"Yeah, totally. You're always free to come to hang out with us. Or just me, if they decide they'd rather be stuck inside all day."

Bryan smiled, "Sounds great."

"Of course it sounds great," I said, smirking. 

Bryan hit me on the arm, "This is why I came out first."

"I beg to differ, I came out of the closet before you."

"I mean the womb, you dipshit. You're so annoying that I had to get away from you."

"And yet you're over here right now."

"Because it's a warzone at home, I'd rather be around annoying than… That. Just all that at home."

"Oh, what happened today?"

"Dad's working from home and mom's trying to clean up around the house so. Many arguments sprouted up. Many involving us."

"Jesus. Can they get a divorce already?"

"I wish."

Harry looked at Adam, "Wow, you weren't kidding. They do actually wish that."

Adam nodded, "I don't lie about that stuff."

I looked at them, "They are ridiculous, guys. They only married because they found out they were having us."

Bryan added, "We've been calling them getting a divorce since we were five. It still hasn't happened."

"I could never imagine wishing my parents would get divorced," Harry said.

"That's because they're great," Adam said, "I mean, look at what happened when I told them about Flynn. They were just like 'congrats, treat him right.'"

"Well, you were also extremely gay as a child so it was no surprise," Harry said. 

"What do you mean?"

"You always talked about how much you loved boys. You fell in love with like every dude."

"No, I didn't!"

"Oh? Steve from Blue's Clues. The guy from Verizon. The boss from Cat in The Hat. Jack Frost from the Santa Clause movies. And then also cartoon characters! You were in love with Doofenshmirtz and Perry!"

"Hey, people drew Perry as a hot dude, how could I not?"

Bryan laughed, "I mean Flynn's the same way. He's one of those people who drew Perry as a hot dude."

I glared at him, "Shut up."

"Wanna remind us why your name's Flynn?"

"It's a good name, Bryan!"

Harry laughed, "Nah, it's perfect. Just dye your hair teal and then you two will be Perry and Doofenshmirtz."

"Adam, you have to change your name to Heinz," Bryan said. 

"So, what are you going to do when you two get married? Are you going to keep your last name, Flynn?"

"Oh, he has to. It's too perfect. Flynn Perry? That's just perfect for him."

I put my hand over my heart, "I feel so attacked right now. Y'all are assholes." 

"I'm your brother, I have to be," Bryan said.

"And I'm your brother-in-law and Adam's brother. I have to be," Harry added.

"You're not my brother-in-law yet."

"But one day I will be."

"I haven't even met Adam's parents yet."

Bryan's face went on a field trip of expressions, "You've been together for two years and you haven't met his parents?"

"It's been a year and a half."

"Still! How haven't you?"

"His parents live in Georgia… Duh. I've told you this."

"Have you?"

I nodded, "I surely have."

"Oh. Well, I never listen when you talk about him because that's all you do so."

"Wow, I feel so loved," Adam mumbled. 

"So why do you guys live down here then?"

Harry answered, "Madison sucks."

"So does the entirety of Florida."

"Less than Madison. But nah, it's because Rodney came down here and stayed for some reason. So we followed. I would've picked New York or something but, eh."

"I would've gone to California, honestly."

"I think Florida's good enough," Adam said, "we're still in driving distance to our parents."

"As if we visit often," Harry mumbled.

Our bants would've continued had we not been interrupted by Sage. 

"One of you guys might want to check on Rodney," she said, standing in the doorway.

We all looked beside Harry and realized Rodney had disappeared. 

"Oh shit," I mumbled, getting up.

"Great babysitter, huh?" Sage said. 

"Please don't, Sage."

She gestured towards the bathroom, "He's in there."

I walked over to the door and knocked on it, "Hey, can I come in?"

"Fine," he choked up, clearly in the middle of crying. 

I opened the door and saw him, sitting on the ground, his knees to his chest. He was sobbing, his entire body shaking. I froze in the doorway, unsure of what to say or what to do. 

A few moments passed and Bryan was kneeling in front of Rodney and Harry ended up entering as well, sitting on the edge of the tub. 

"Hey, I know you don't know me very well, but I'm Bryan. Flynn's brother. Can you do me a favor?"

Rodney glanced up at him, "Wh-what?"

"Can you name for me five things you can see right now?"

"Uh, a painting… Um, the scale next to Harry's feet… The shower curtain… Your sleeves ripped, why?"

"Uh, it came like this."

Rodney tilted his head, "No it didn't."

"It's not important, you have another thing to name."

Rodney's eyes were fixed on Bryan, "Your face is red."

Bryan rubbed his cheek, where I began to notice what Rodney was talking about. There was a very faint red mark across his cheek. 

Harry looked at Bryan for a moment before looking back at Rodney, "I believe the next step is four things you can feel."

"The ground, it's cold. My shirt, it's a bit itchy… Uh, the wall. My nails."

"Three things you can hear," Bryan said.

"Air conditioner, Minecraft's music, and Adam's tapping on his phone."

"Two things you can smell, or smells you like."

"I can smell… whatever it is that Eliza smells like when she goes outside to 'chill out'? And… uh, vanilla."

"Lastly, something you can taste," Harry said.

"Or like to taste," Bryan added. 

"Uh, chocolate!"

Bryan smiled a bit, "Chocolate is very good. How do you feel?"

"Not good," Rodney mumbled. 

"Well, you're not shaking anymore, that's good. Why don't we go out to the living room, where it's more comfortable, hmm?"

Rodney nodded and Bryan got up, helping him up off the ground. We all headed to the living room, sitting down on the couches. 

"So what happened, why don't you feel good?" Bryan asked. 

"Did we do something?" Harry asked. 

Rodney shook his head, "I just… I 'unno. I feel weird, like… Somethin' gonna go wrong."

Bryan nodded, "I know that feeling. It happens a lot, every day at my house is like a walking minefield, anything could spark a fight. I'm always on edge."

"How do you deal with it?"

"I think of the worst possible scenario and best possible scenario, then think about how neither will happen. So, okay, give me what you think may go wrong."

"Uh, people finding me weird."

"So, what's the worst that could happen?"

"Everyone leaves me or yells at me or tries to hurt me."

"And what's the best?"

"Everyone… loves me, and is fine with everything."

"Okay, so, it's unlikely either will happen. Not everyone is going to leave you, surely not your family, they've been around you this long."

"My mama left," he mumbled. 

"She passed away, she didn't leave you," Harry said.

"Still," he mumbled. 

"I know for a fact that Adam and Harry aren't going to leave you," I said, "and I won't either. We love you, for all that you are."

Bryan nodded, "None of us are going to leave you or yell or hurt you, okay?"

Rodney shrugged.

"But, anyways, no, not everyone will love you. It's just how people are, people suck. But that doesn't mean nobody will. Maybe this isn't the best example of my method but. I don't think it's weird, to be honest. Nor do I think you're weird."

"Thank you," Rodney mumbled. 

"You're welcome. Now I don't know about you, but I'm craving something chocolate since you mentioned it earlier."

"We have ice cream."

"Ooh, let's get some then."

Both of them got up and walked off towards the kitchen. 

Harry looked at Adam and me, "He's going to be a bad influence on him."

"Which one?" Adam asked. 

"Both," Harry said, getting up, "don't eat too much of it! I promised I'd make dinner tonight and I will not have you guys ruining your appetite. Oh my God, I'm turning into a mom."

"I can and will eat the entire carton!" I heard Bryan exclaim. 

"Oh come on, be civil, put it in a bowl for Christ sakes, don't eat out of the carton!"

I laughed, shaking my head, "So, how long before they get together?"

"I give it a month," Adam said, smirking.

"I give it two months, Bryan likes to hide his feelings sometimes."

"Ah, like you? You took four months."

I playfully shoved him, "Shut up."

"Make me."

I heard Harry shout, "If I come out there and y'all are making out, I will personally put you on separate flights to completely different places, I swear!"

We both laughed and shook our heads, wrapping arms around each other.

"Maybe things will be okay," I mumbled, leaning into him. 

"Don't jinx it."


	3. Fourth Of July

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger Warnings: fighting between parents and children, quite a lot of cursing, internalized biphobia, transphobia, dead-naming, and implied possible abuse especially near the end (just talking about it, nothing actually happens)

At the beginning of July, Elizabeth decided to go on a trip to Alabama to visit her family. Since her mother's birthday and also Sage and Bella's birthdays were coming up, they wanted to see them for a bit and celebrate. And so, she was gone from July 3rd until July 9th. Rodney ended up not going with her for a few reasons. The first was obvious, she still didn't know about his issues and he wasn't about to let them happen on a six-day trip to her family's house. Secondly is he wasn't able to get off from work, with his boss claiming that it was 'bad enough he took as many days off as he did.'

We figured that it wouldn't be that chaotic with her gone, it would have to be a lot easier, right? No kids around meant less stress, right? Wrong. 

It was the Fourth of July, which meant that nearly everyone was off work to celebrate. Including my father. My wakeup call that morning was the sounds of yelling from the living room and my brother slamming the door shut behind him as he stormed into the room.

"Yeah, fuck you too!" he shouted, locking the door. 

I sighed, "Why can't you just stay out of their fights?"

"I'm not going to sit around and listen to the dumb shit they say, especially when they drag us into it! Like I'm supposed to ignore that? I get in the middle because they throw me into it!" 

I shook my head and sat up, pulling my pillow to my chest, "So, what was their fight about?"

He sat down on my bed, putting his head in his hands, "Mom wants us to go to her friends' house, dad wants to just stay here. That's what started it. Then she was like 'you never want to do what I want' and 'you don't even want to be a part of this family!' and well, she dragged us into it."

"'This is why your sons are the way they are' kinda shit?" I asked. 

Bryan nodded, "Are we surprised?"

"Great."

We heard pounding on our door and our father shouting, "Bryan Franklin Perry, open this door up right now!"

We gave each other a glance and looked to the window in unison. 

"I'll take care of it," I whispered. 

Bryan nodded and grabbed his phone and wallet and shoved them in his pockets. He went over to the window and quietly opened it up and pushed out the screen. He gave me a thumbs up and went out the window, putting the screen back on as best as he could once he was out. I got out of bed after I knew he had to be far enough away and went to the door, unlocking it.

"What's up?" I mumbled, looking at my dad.

"Where is your brother?" my father spat at me. 

I shrugged, rubbing my eyes, "I just woke up."

He glared at me for any signs of me lying to him, crossing his arms. I tried my best to make it seem like I genuinely didn't know what happened to my brother, mostly by having the straightest face I could. 

"You have no idea where he went?"

"Nope."

"Bullshit, fucking useless people," he mumbled, walking off.

I shrugged it off, shutting the door again and locking it. I grabbed my phone and texted Bryan. 

_ "Well, hopefully, you're far enough away." _

_ "Thanks." _

_ "So what are your plans for today anyway?" _

_ "Going to get the new Purge movie with Harry." _

_ "Ooo, going on a date, huh?" _

_ "It's not a date." _

_ "Okay, whatever you say. Be safe :)" _

_ "Fuck you." _

I smirked and started getting ready myself. I pulled out my typical outfit, which consisted of my binder, a plain dark t-shirt, and jeans. I got dressed quickly and grabbed anything I might have needed and headed out of my room, hoping to bypass my fighting parents. 

"Where do you think you're going?" my mother asked as I was putting my hand on the handle to the front door. 

I froze up, "Uh, I'm… going to babysit."

"I thought they went on vacation?" she asked, crossing her arms. 

Before I could come up with a lie, my father spoke up. 

"See, nobody wants to go to Sheryl's stupid gathering, Barbara. God, it's my one day off in a while and you want me to waste it as some stupid fucking party with Sheryl and her snowflakey kids."

"Oh c'mon, just because her kids are like that doesn't mean everyone's going to be like that, Franklin. She has a lot of friends with common sense."

I quietly turned the knob once their attention was finally back on each other and quickly went out the door. I ran over to Rodney's house and let myself in, collapsing on the couch once I was there. My chest was rising and falling as I tried to catch my breath. 

"You good?" Adam asked from the other couch. 

"I ran," I answered, shaking my head. 

"Why?"

"My parents caught me as I was leaving and I wasn't going to get caught up in their shit twice."

"Oh. That makes sense then."

I took note of the fact that there were sheets on the couch he was on as well as a blanket and pillows, "Why did you sleep on the couch?"

"The futon was uncomfortable," was the only answer I got. 

"Okay, why'd you stay the night?"

"Harry worked a closing shift and I didn't want to pick him up at midnight, so I just let him keep the car. So no way to get home. Well, I guess I could've found a way but. Nah."

"Oh. Makes sense, I guess."

He nodded, "So. I saw this dude with teal hair on Instagram, when are you planning on doing that to your hair?"

I shrugged, we had been discussing how I wanted to dye it teal for a while quite a bit, "I have no idea, it's always so busy."

"Why don't we do it today then?"

"I don't feel like going to a hairstylist, it takes so long and it's so expensive."

Rodney had entered the room, "What would you be going for?" 

"Hmm?"

"To a hairstylist, why would you be going?" he repeated.

"Oh, dyeing my hair. I want to do it teal."

He scoffed, "We can do it. It's not that hard."

I stared at him, "Have you noticed my hair color, it's pitch black. It won't be an easy process."

"I've helped dye hair before, Flynn. I can do it."

"It's not that easy."

"So? Let's just do it."

Adam nodded, "Hell yeah, let's do this. You've been wanting to dye it for ages and it's not like your family's going to approve of you spending that much money on dyeing it anyways so."

"Fuck, I didn't even think about my family."

Rodney looked at me, "I will legally adopt you if they get pissed off at your hair. Teal would be a great color for you."

"Oh, make our family tree more confusing, why don't you," Adam said. 

"Our family tree isn't confusing, Adam."

"Yet. Bryan and Harry get together and it'll be brothers dating brothers."

"Still not that confusing."

"Okay, whatever you say, anyways. Let's go get hair dye," Adam said, getting up. 

"Adam, I don't feel like doing this today," I tried to argue as he pulled me off the couch.

"C'mon, it'll be fun. You only live once."

"You ever say that again and you'll see your life end before you can live it."

Adam stared at me, "YOLO."

I sighed deeply, following him to Rodney's car. We got in and Rodney drove us to Walmart. We got there shortly after and began walking towards the hair section. 

"Are we doing teal because of the duck thing from that cartoon you guys like?" Rodney asked.

"Uh, he's a platypus, you uncultured swine," Adam said. 

"Duck, platypus, a gay trans icon, what's the difference?" 

"A what?" I nearly shouted, stopping in my tracks.

"Clearly he's bi," Adam said, stopping as well. 

I stared at Rodney with wide eyes, "Rodney, what the fuck did you say again?"

"Keep up Flynn, Perry is a gay and trans icon," Rodney repeated. 

I looked at Adam, "Are you corrupting your cousin?"

Adam threw his hands up, "Why does everyone figure he gets his slang from me?"

"Your cousin is a cishet twenty-six-year-old, why would he know the slang we use?"

"Cishet?"

Rodney jabbed him with his elbow, "I saw a post about it on my dashboard."

"You have Tumblr?!" I asked.

"Jesus Christ, I'm not that old. What, next you're going to be surprised I went through an emo phase and had myspace?"

"You, an emo phase?"

Rodney facepalmed, "I tell you I've helped dye hair and you don't take that a sign I had friends who were emo and scene? My friend's little sister was obsessed with dyeing her hair. Yes, I had an emo phase."

"You say phase as if you outgrew it," Adam said, smirking.

Rodney looked at Adam who was typing something on his phone, "If you-"

Adam began playing a song and Rodney threw his hands to his ears, "You son of a-"

"Did you just G-note us?" I asked Adam. 

Adam nodded.

"Fuck you."

Rodney gave Adam a shove, "You're a dick sometimes."

Adam smirked, "Proudly so."

"So, what's your username then?" I asked. 

"Oh, hell no, you're not getting it," Rodney said, scoffing.

"C'mon, why not!"

"You're in my life enough as it is. I don't need you digging up my old vent posts and freaking out over them."

Adam added, "He gets into a lot of ship drama and doesn't want you to make a callout post."

Rodney glared at him, "Shut up Adam, you run a page for a children's cartoon that ended years ago."

"Hey, it ended last year. Not years ago."

"I thought it ended years ago, wasn't that movie that came out its finale?"

"What, no."

"Wait, why'd you see a Phineas and Ferb post on your dashboard unless…" I asked. 

Rodney realized what I was starting to get at, "Flynn, don't you-"

I grabbed Adam's phone, went to his app and began scrolling through his followers' tab. 

"I could've just told you his username, babe," Adam said.

"Don't you dare!" Rodney shouted. 

Adam smirked and put his hand out for my phone, which I handed to him. He inputted Rodney's username, despite Rodney's best efforts to stop him. He handed the phone back to me, "Here you go."

I looked at Rodney's page, "'Putting the bi in bit-'"

"Could you not!" Rodney exclaimed. 

"Why?"

"I haven't changed it in years, don't judge me."

"No why bitch? You're not a bitch?" 

Rodney groaned, "This is why I don't want you on there. You take my shit too seriously. Can we just get your hair dye and not look at my angsty blog, thanks." 

We began walking again towards the hair section. 

"So you're bi?" I asked.

Rodney sighed, "Doesn't matter. I have a wife so." 

"So? I'm bi and have a boyfriend. It doesn't erase my identity." 

"Everyone was bi back then."

I stopped for a moment, squinting as I tilted my head, "'Everyone was bi' uh. What?"

"A lot of emo kids claimed to be bi back then, that's all."

"Uh, okay… So, what, you're saying you're not?"

"I'm saying it doesn't really matter to me what I am. I have a wife now, so. My feelings towards others don't really matter and so I don't care for a term."

"So what, people find the one and their identity no longer matters?"

Rodney groaned, "No, it just doesn't matter to me about my own 'identity.' I'm content being seen as just straight."

"But you're not."

"Flynn, it doesn't matter."

"But why-"

Adam cut me off by pointing out that we were at the section we were looking for. We began searching for the color I wanted, as well as everything else we needed.

"Okay, so, the internet says we need conditioner, powder, developer, and corrector," Adam said, scrolling through some site on his phone.

"And some gloves, we ain't dyeing our hands as well," Rodney said, grabbing supplies off the shelves, "and a strong developer since your hair is so dark."

"Are we sure about this?" I asked, "I mean, bleaching is a delicate process, I don't want to fuck it up."

"It'll be fine, I know what I'm doing."

"Are we going to cut your hair or anything?" Adam asked, looking at a hair clipper set. 

"Firstly, we are not buying that, that's expensive, secondly, it's bad enough y'all are dyeing my hair, I don't need a fucked up cut as well," I said, dragging him away from it, "let's just get the hair dye stuff."

"I have clippers at home anyways," Rodney said. 

We grabbed the rest of what we needed and headed towards checkout. We quickly checked out and headed back home. Adam was researching how to properly go about the process, while Rodney kept insisting he knew how to do it. We got back and set up in the bathroom. Adam and Rodney began bleaching my hair, slightly arguing about the process.

_ "Bry, if I come home with a fucked up hairstyle, blame Rodney and Adam." _

_ "What are they doing?" _

_ "Dyeing my hair teal." _

_ "-Facepalm- And you trust them? _

_ Even Harry says that's a bad idea." _

_ "They're forcing me to let them.  _

_ Also, why the dashes? We are an asterisk family." _

_ "Sorry, I'm not like you! It's not a phase though!" _

_ "Sure it isn't, you'll grow out of it :P" _

_ "It is not 2011, do not use emoticons." _

_ "XD i do wut i want, rawrz!!1!" _

"If you don't stop, I will bleach your eyebrows as well," Rodney exclaimed, having read my messages over my shoulder. 

"Oh, that would be cool," Adam commented. 

I glared at him, "If you touch my fucking eyebrows I will murder you."

Adam put his hands up, "I said it'd be cool, not that I'll do it."

"I'll do it," Rodney stated with complete seriousness. 

"Do not. So how much longer is it going to take to bleach it?"

"Do you want it correct?" Rodney asked.

"Yeah, of course."

"Then have patience."

I rolled my eyes and began scrolling through my Tumblr, deciding halfway through to look at Rodney's account. They finally finished bleaching it after a while.

"So, uh, how are we doing on my hair?"

"It needs to sit for twenty minutes at least," Adam replied. 

"How do you know it'll be enough time?"

"Can you have a little bit of trust in us?"

"No."

Rodney put a shower cap over my hair, "It'll probably be longer, and we might have to do it again. Hopefully not, but it's possible."

I sighed and loaded up a movie on my phone, watching it while waiting. Twenty minutes was surely not long enough. A full hour went by and Rodney took off the cap. 

"Oh my God, it looks terrible," I exclaimed. 

"It's fine, just wash it out and we'll start dyeing it teal."

I began washing the bleach out, really starting to regret letting them dye my hair. But by then, there was nothing I could do, it couldn't possibly get worse. I got all the bleach out and sat back down, letting Rodney apply the teal hair dye to my hair.

"Oh, shit," he mumbled out.

"What did you do?"

"I just got a bit on your shirt, I should've given you an old t-shirt of mine or something. Uh, hopefully, we can get it out."

"I better be able to, I like this shirt."

He finished applying the dye and he put the cap back on so I could remove my shirt without getting more dye on it. I handed the shirt to him for him to put it in the washer. 

"Your tank top looks… weird," he commented. 

I realized at that moment that I had just revealed my binder. 

"Uh, yeah, it's uh, not a tank top," I mumbled. 

He stared at it for another moment before realization hit his face, "Oh! It's one of those uh, God, what's the word."

"Binder." 

"Yes, that. Adam reblogged a giveaway for those once. I knew it looked familiar. Hold on, I'll throw this in the wash and get you another shirt." 

Rodney left the bathroom, leaving me to process what had just happened. 

"Does he realize," I started to say. 

"Probably," Adam answered. 

Rodney came back with a plain t-shirt not long after and handed it to me. 

"Uh, so, you're okay with me being… trans?" I asked. 

Rodney tilted his head, "Uh, of course, I am. I'm not going to suddenly turn on you because you were born differently than I thought. It's not a big deal to me. It actually explains a few things anyways, like how your name works perfectly. And why your parents would be up in arms over your hair."

"You really don't care? Like… You must, everyone's always asking me questions about it or they suddenly start fucking up or telling me I'm not a real man and-" 

"Hey," he said, speaking softly as he put his hand on my shoulder for a moment, "if you want to share things about it, go ahead. But I don't need to know anything, honestly. As long as I'm referring to you correctly, that's all that matters to me. I met you as Flynn, as long as that's what you still go by, then you'll always be Flynn. I know what transgender is and I know the basics. It's not up to you to educate me more, that's on me. If I have questions that don't directly relate to you, I can ask Google. I will ask, is there anything I can do for you? Like, if you need to have stuff shipped here, if you need me to take you somewhere for anything, anything." 

Tears started forming in my eyes, "Why are you guys so nice?" 

"Because we were raised correctly? Why, how did Harry and Adam react?" 

"They were referring to me as a boy, and then they realized I was stunned into silence by it and asked me if I was. When they realized I was too scared to reply, both reassured me I'd be fine, no matter the answer. I told them I was indeed a boy and Harry proceeded to refer to me as Adam's boyfriend and that we were his 'ship.'" 

Rodney chuckled, "Of course he did." 

Adam came over and wrapped his arms around me, "Well, he wasn't wrong, we did end up together. And you are alright, people will accept you for who you are." 

"Not my parents," I mumbled. 

"Yeah, well, fuck them. We love you for you." 

"Take it from me," Rodney said, "people who don't love you and accept you for who you are aren't worth it. Even if they're family."

I nodded, "I know."

"But, you do have your brother, right? He seems great about it."

"Yeah, he's really supportive. It's great."

Rodney nodded, smiling, "It's good to have supportive family members. I know I really appreciated it."

"Yeah. So, how long does this shit have to stay in my hair?"

"About forty minutes, maybe longer?"

I sighed, "I love waiting."

I set up an episode of some random show up on my phone, watching it as we waited. Another hour went by and we finally started washing it out. Adam helped me dry it and styled it for me.

"Well," I said, staring in the mirror.

"What do you think?" Rodney asked. 

I stared at it, it was surely not exactly the color I was aiming for. It ended up more on the green side when I was aiming for the blue side. But given the fact that Rodney and Adam had done it, it came out a bit better than I thought. 

"Next time I'm going somewhere professional though. Not taking the stress of this going wrong again."

"Fair enough."

We cleaned up our mess and as we were doing so, Adam got a phone call. 

"Hey, what's up?... Just finishing dyeing Flynn's hair… For your information, he-who-has-no-trust-in-me, we did beautifully… I was ten!... Whatever, it's fine… Okay, so what were you calling about?... They're having a fair for the Fourth of July?... Seems a bit much for one day but okay… Uh, let me ask."

He looked at Rodney and me, "Want to meet up with Bryan and Harry downtown? There's some event going on, they have a few rides and stuff."

"Sure, why not?" Rodney said. 

"Sure," I shrugged. 

Adam turned his attention back to his phone, "They said sure… Alright, I'll text you when we get there."

He hung up and put his phone in his pocket, "Alright, let's head out then, I guess."

We grabbed up anything we needed, like wallets and shoes, and headed back to the car. Rodney began driving us downtown. We arrived shortly after and searched for Harry and Bryan, who were apparently already there. I spotted them near the Rockstar ride, which is shaped like a giant guitar that goes around in a circle. 

"Hey Bry," I greeted, walking up to him, "how was your date?"

Bryan shoved me, "Oh, shut up. It wasn't a date."

I smirked, "Sure bud, so how was the movie?"

"It was… okay," Harry replied. 

"What did you guys watch?" Rodney asked. 

"The new Purge movie."

"Ew, those movies are stupid, like. All crime is legal, so y'all are murdering people? Makes total sense."

"I know right!" Bryan exclaimed, "Like, y'all can drink, smoke, rob a bank, watch any movie you want, and y'all are going to murder?"

"One of those things is not like the others," Adam commented.

"That is true, why do they just go to murder?"

"Because they're idiots," I stated. 

"True that. So, y'all wanna ride Rockstar with us?" Bryan asked.

"Oh hell yeah," Adam exclaimed. 

"Let's go," Rodney added.

I shoved my hands in my pockets, "I don't know."

"C'mon, it'll be fun," Adam said, nudging me. 

"It doesn't go upside down, don't worry," Bryan said. 

"It'll be perfectly fine," Rodney added.

I sighed, "Fine. Let's go."

We got in line and waited to go on. Not shortly after, the gate opened and we entered, climbing onto the ride. We sat down in the front row of the ride, much to my dismay. Adam was on one side of me and Bryan was on the other, with Rodney and Harry on the other sides of them respectively. The ride started up and my grip on the handles of my seat tightened. 

"You good?" Bryan asked. 

"Mhm."

"Are you sure?"

"Mhm."

Adam reached over, putting his hand on mine, "Hey, you're going to be fine."

"We're barely even going that high," Bryan said. 

"And it's just going to go in a circle, it isn't even going to speed up," Adam added. 

I took in a deep breath, "I hate heights."

"Look, we're fine. We're barely that high," Bryan said as we got to the top. 

I looked down and could feel my heart racing, "Why would you tell me to look?!"

"I didn't mean to look down! I meant look straight!"

"I want off this fucking ride!"

"Flynn, chill, there are children!"

I shut my eyes tight, biting my lip hard to stop myself from screaming. 

"Think we can get a refund for him?" Bryan asked, probably to one of the others. 

My head began pounding as I shut my eyes tighter, and nausea was building up. It felt like I was being shaken like a broken etch-a-sketch that someone wouldn't realize wasn't going to work. What felt like an eternity later, I felt a shake on my shoulder. 

"Hey, it's over."

I opened my eyes and saw Adam standing up next to me. I got up, shaking my head as I climbed off the ride. 

"Are you okay?" he asked. 

"Shut up," I mumbled, walking off. I found an empty bench and collapsed onto it, shutting my eyes again. 

I had a few moments of calm before I could hear them all approaching me. I felt someone sit next to me and I opened my eyes. Adam was sitting there, while Bryan, Harry, and Rodney were standing off to the side.

"I didn't realize you hated heights that much."

"It's whatever," I mumbled out, shutting my eyes again. 

"Let me make it up to you, I'll go buy you some Kilwins?"

"No, I don't want ice cream."

I felt him put his hand on my knee, "I'm really sorry. What can I do to make it up to you?"

I shrugged.

"Do you want to get lunch, we haven't eaten yet today."

"They do have some pretty decent food here," I heard Bryan add. 

I sighed and opened my eyes back up, "Fine, sure."

Adam smiled a bit and stood back up, as did I. All of us headed towards the vendors, looking for something to eat. We found a place that seemed decent and inexpensive and began ordering. 

"I just want a hot dog with ketchup and relish and a Crush soda," Bryan and I said in unison. We both cringed as we realized we said it at the same time and what joke was about to be made. 

"It's like you guys are twins," Harry said, smirking. 

Bryan glared at him and hit him on his arm, "Shut up."

"I'll take a cheeseburger with a Sprite, please," Adam said. 

"I'll take a chili dog and a Coke," Harry said.

I looked to Rodney, who hadn't ordered yet, "What about you?"

He gave me a shrug in response.

"Are you okay?"

He gave me another shrug, looking down at the ground. 

Adam spoke up, "He'll just get some chicken tenders and fries and uh, does a water sound good?"

Rodney nodded. 

"Okay, just a bottle of water."

Harry and Adam both went to grab their wallets to pay, realizing the other was trying to pay. They began fighting over who was going to pay. 

"I'm the oldest, I should pay."

"But I brought my boyfriend and Rodney, so, I should pay because that's more people."

"Rodney's my cousin too and I brought Bryan, so. Equal amount."

"I still should pay."

They continued to argue while Rodney glanced up at them, pulling his wallet out and handing it to me. I nodded and pulled out a card, handing it to the cashier. Harry and Adam both stopped and turned to look at me. 

"Not mine, Rodney's."

"Rodney!" both of them exclaimed, looking at Rodney. 

Rodney backed up, flinching. 

"You didn't have to pay," Adam said, lowering his voice. 

"Fighting," Rodney mumbled, "Don't like it."

"Oh, yeah, I'm sorry bud. We're just like that sometimes, it's not real fighting."

"Still don't like it."

"I'm sorry."

"'s okay."

We grabbed our food once it was ready and went to find a table to sit at. Bryan and Harry were discussing what they were going to go on next, while Adam was trying to find something for us to occupy our time before the fireworks that wouldn't freak me out like the last ride. 

"Oh, we could try to win a prize from the ring toss game," Adam suggested.

"Those things are so rigged," I replied. 

"I know, but we could at least try."

"I don't want to waste our money."

"I bet you ten dollars I can win a game."

I shook my head, "No."

"Twenty."

"Babe."

Harry piped up, "I'll bet thirty."

Bryan nudged Harry, "You do not need to be spending your money on this."

"Yeah, listen to your boyfriend," I said, smirking a bit, "Don't waste money on it, the games are rigged and impossible to win. You two are just going to go into debt because he'll just keep going until he has nothing left."

"Okay, three games. I lose, you get money. I win, I get money," Adam suggested. 

"He's not going to back down," Harry said, "And neither am I. I want to see it."

"C'mon, it's a fifty dollar profit for you if I lose."

I sighed deeply, "Fine."

We continued eating, Adam eating much faster to try to be finished for him to go play the ring toss game. I rolled my eyes and pointed out that we all had to finish before we went off for him to play the rigged ring toss game. We all finished up and headed towards the game. 

"This is so dumb, you're going to lose," I said to Adam. 

"I think he can do it," Rodney said, smiling. 

"Thanks, kiddo, at least someone has faith in me," Adam said, glaring at me. 

"Hey!" Harry exclaimed, "I have faith in you."

"You're my brother, you have to have faith in me."

"I don't have to have anything."

We reached the game and Adam walked up to the worker, "Oh hey Tyler!"

"Ey, what's up, dude!" 

"Not much. I've made a bet with my boyfriend that I can win a game, however. Fifty dollars is on the line."

"Oof, good luck with that buddy," Tyler said, handing him rings, "first game's on me."

"We're only playing to three, I'm not letting him waste money," I announced, crossing my arms. 

"Smart move," Tyler said, nodding, "you know the rules right, Adam?"

"Yup. One ring is a lower level prize, two are mid-range and three are the big prize."

Bryan interrupted, "What counts as winning? Because technically one is winning, but three is like a bigger winning."

"He has to get three," Harry said, crossing his arms, "You can do it, right Adam?"

Adam glared at him, "Yeah, I guess I can. But did you have to say it?"

"Well go ahead and do it," I said. 

Adam sighed and looked at the bottles, taking a deep breath. He lined up his shot and threw the ring. It clattered to the ground, nowhere near the bottle top. 

"Oof," Tyler said, "Don't worry, you can still win a prize and play again for your bet."

He went two more times and what a surprise, he didn't get it. He handed Tyler five dollars for another game and started over. The first ring, nope. The second ring, nope. The third ring, yes. 

"Ha! I did it!" Adam exclaimed. 

"Didn't win the bet though," I said.

"I still have one more game," He said, glaring at me as he handed Tyler another five. 

"No pressure," Harry said, "but I will have to pay your boyfriend thirty dollars if you fail."

Adam sighed, "I hate you."

Tyler handed him another set of rings, "Don't worry, you got it, dude."

Adam once again lined up his shot and I could hear him psyching himself up under his breath. He threw it and it landed on the top of one of the bottles. He smirked and lined up his next shot, throwing it and landing it as well.

"Holy shit," Bryan said. 

"Just one more," Harry said. 

"You might actually get it, babe," I said. 

Adam held the ring up, "Please, land on the bottle, for the love of God."

He lined up the shot and he was surely stalling with his throw, bringing it back and forth, trying to see if it would properly land. 

"Just throw it!" Rodney exclaimed. 

Adam's hand let go of it on one of his forward fake-throws and all of us gasped as it began spinning around the very top of one of the bottles. It could very well fall off at any moment and count as a not-win. It slowly spun down the neck and stopped. 

"You did it!" I shouted, throwing my arms around him, "How the fuck did you do it!"

He wrapped an arm around me, "I have no idea!"

"Good job dude," Tyler said, "what prizes do you want?"

"The red sticky hand thing and uh, the black bear," he said, pointing to a giant black bear they had. Tyler pulled the bear down and gave it to Adam, as well as the "sticky hand thing."

"Why the hand?" I asked him. 

"So I could annoy you," he said, holding onto the end and throwing the hand onto my arm. 

I rolled my eyes, "Of course."

"Who's the bear for?" Rodney asked Adam. 

"Hm, I was thinking of giving it to Harry to give to his new boyfriend," Adam said, smirking. 

"We are not dating!" Bryan exclaimed.

"Yet," I teased. 

Adam smirked, "Why buddy, do you want it?"

Rodney gave him a shrug, "I 'unno."

Adam handed it to him, "Here you go, you can have it. I already have a bear at home who hogs my bed."

"How does a stuffed animal hog your bed?" Bryan asked. 

"Didn't say it was a stuffed animal," Adam replied.

"Flynn never stays the night with you, so hopefully it ain't a person," Bryan muttered.

"You have a real bear in your bed?" Rodney exclaimed.

"No, I'm kidding, it's a stuffed animal. It's just very big, my mom bought it for me because I jokingly said I wanted it when they came to visit."

"Ooh."

"Yeah. Now why don't we go try out some more rides, maybe some that won't freak Flynn out."

Bryan looked towards a ride and pointed it out, "There are the swings, Flynn loves those!"

"I don't love them, you do. You force me on them every time," I replied.

"It's the one ride you go on, so, that means you have to like it."

I shook my head as we began our walk to the ride, remembering when Bryan had first made me ride it. We were just eight and our parents were fighting once again about everything. My father was complaining that we bought tickets to the fair but I wasn't going on any rides since they all freaked me out. Bryan and I had managed to get away from them and were walking around. Bryan had spotted the ride and pointed out that it had two seats together, so I wouldn't be alone and that it didn't go that high. He pulled me into line and made me ride it with him, and once we were on, he distracted me by talking about some game he was into and before I could realize it, we were in the air and I felt completely fine. Ever since then, the swings were one of the only rides I'd go on without a problem. 

"Earth to Flynnington," Bryan said, waving his hand in front of my eyes. 

"Flynnington?" I asked, staring at him in confusion. 

"Yeah, I'm claiming that as your full name now. We're at the ride," Bryan said, gesturing to it. 

"Alright, Brytholomew," I said, smirking as we got in line for the ride. Shortly after we were able to get on and settle into our seats. 

The ride itself isn't much to rave about, but despite that fact, we ended up riding it six times. Harry and Adam stopped after the second ride, Rodney stopped on the third, leaving Bryan and me behind on it. Something about the simple movement of the ride that didn't have us flying above water or super high made me feel calm while still making Bryan feel entertained and letting us see the entire park which was amazing. 

Harry and Adam had to drag us away after the sixth ride and the five of us walked around, playing a few games here and there, going on chill rides or leaving me and sometimes Rodney behind to watch them ride more intense rides. The sun had set and we were sitting on the grass, waiting for the fireworks. Rodney was playing some game on his phone, sitting between Adam and my legs, while Adam and I had our arms wrapped around each other. Bryan and Harry were sitting next to each other as well, hands entwined. Adam and I didn't point it out, knowing they'd stop if we did. The fireworks started shooting off and we all drew our attention to it. 

"I've seen this every year, but this year, it's really pretty," Bryan said. 

"That's because you're surrounded by people you love," Harry said, "instead of certain people."

I looked over and saw Bryan smiling and I couldn't help but smile. 

"I'm glad that I'm the one family member you still love," I smirked. 

Bryan stared at me, "I didn't say I loved you. Harry's the one that said it. I hate your guts."

I stuck out my tongue, "Whatever you say. Love you too, bro."

"Also implies he loves me," Adam said. 

Bryan looked at Harry, "See what you've spawned? Next, he's going to claim I'm going to steal him from my brother."

Adam rolled his eyes, "Clearly, you're always trying to steal me away from Flynn. It's so obvious."

"Yeah Bry, it's obvious," I said, laughing.

We continued watching the fireworks and talking every so often. We were all enjoying the fireworks and each other's company, completely happy. Until I got a phone call. My phone was lying on the grass and Bryan answered it for me.

"Hey, mom, what's up-... Uh, we're just downtown watching the fireworks… What, no, I just went to a movie with a friend-... No I'm not-... Uh, we ran into him?... I meant-... Yes mom I understand, I messed up."

Rodney nudged him and whispered, "What's going on?"

Bryan shook his head and mouthed that everything was fine. 

"I don't know why they're here… No, everything is fine and you don't need to worry about what's going on… We are more than old enough to be by ourselves!"

Rodney grabbed the phone, "Hello Mrs. Perry, this is your neighbor, Rodney? Your child babysits for my wife and I?... Oh yes, I understand you're confused, you see, Flynn was just helping out today since my wife couldn't go to Alabama until tomorrow because things are going wrong at her store. And I've been feeling a bit sick, which is why I was going to stay behind, so Flynn watched the kids for us… Yes, we left a few hours ago to come here, I still wanted to see the fireworks and so did the kids. I offered for Flynn to join and so Flynn did… Your son said he happened to run into us, that's no lie? He was riding some rides and saw us, so he said hi… Alright, well, have a wonderful night, ma'am."

He handed the phone to me, rolling his eyes. 

"Hi mom," I said, wincing. 

"There better not be any lying going on over there, Fiona," she said, emphasis on my deadname. 

"There's not, Barabra," I said, not thinking before it came out. 

"Excuse me?!"

I quickly hung up and threw the phone across the grass, "Oh my fuck." 

Rodney bit back a laugh, "I'm sorry, that was actually hilarious."

"I'm going to get murdered!"

"You two can stay with me if you need to."

"No, she'll catch onto our lie when she sees the kids aren't there."

"Okay, well, if stuff goes south, you have a key."

"Thank you, I appreciate it."

Bryan got up, "We probably should go home before they flip out more."

I nodded and got up as well, "What if they see me show up with Rodney and the kids aren't there?"

Harry got up, "I'll drive you both home, then they probably won't see Rodney getting home without any kids being there."

"Thank you."

We walked to the parking lot, saying goodbye to Rodney as he went to this car once we got to Harry's.

"I'm going to stay the night at Rodney's again, just to make sure nothing happens. He did switch back quickly due to the call," Adam said, before looking at me, "and if anything happens with you guys, I'll be right next door."

I smiled softly, "What, you're going to fight my parents for me?"

Adam hugged me, "I'll do whatever I can."

I hugged back, "I love you. Goodnight, see you later."

He gave me a kiss before running off where we had parked the car earlier. Bryan and I got into Harry's car, Bryan sitting in the front while I sat in the back. I put my legs up on the seat, with my head and back against the door. Harry got into the driver's seat and started up the car, pulling out. 

"You two going to be alright at home?" Harry asked once we were on the highway.

"We always manage," Bryan replied. 

"It's not going to be that bad, just typical stuff, you know," I said, "parents, what'cha going to do, right?"

"My parents would never make me feel like they'd murder me for something."

"Well, that's great, I'm glad for you having chill parents."

"It's not that they're-" he started to say. 

Bryan interrupted, "We know our parents are kind of shitty, just drop it."

The rest of the ride was very silent and when we got home, we managed to sneak in without our parents noticing, as they were too busy fighting with each other again. We went into our room, collapsing on the bottom bunk together. I heard Bryan's phone go off and I glanced at the screen. 

_ ":) H: You guys made it in safely?" _

Bryan typed a response back,  _ "Yup. Safe and sound." _

_ "Good. Ild." _

_ "Same." _

"ILD?" I asked. 

"Stop spying," Bryan said, glaring at me. 

"What's it mean?"

"It means none of your business."

I rolled my eyes and looked it up, "Interstitial lung disease?!"

Bryan looked at my phone, "No! It means ich liebe dich, it's a bit safer than saying ILY? I can come up with a fake meaning if it ever comes up."

"Cute."

He shoved me, "Fuck you, I'm leaving."

He got up and climbed up the ladder to his bed, "Goodnight, asshole."

I smirked, "Gute nacht." 

A pillow came flying at my face from the side of his bunk and I managed to catch it. I threw it on the ground and adjusted how I was lying in bed, sending a quick text to Adam to let him know I was okay. 

_ "How'd they react to your hair?" _

Oh fuck. 


	4. What's My Age Again

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warnings: Fake fighting, quite a bit of food mentions, actual fighting including between parental figures, injuries (nothing graphic)  
> (If you guys find any other things I should tag, let me know, I can always come back and add warnings I think or just message me asking if this work will feature any specific things.)  
> Edit: See I reread this and realized that if you squint you can see some ableism too in regards to possible-ADHD behaviors. I don't think I intended that but.

Needless to say, my parents didn't react wonderfully to my hair but there was nothing they could do about it. Bryan had gotten in the middle of it as he always does and managed to get them to fight with each other instead of getting on me about my hair. Aside from that, the rest of the time Elizabeth was gone was somewhat calm. 

July 16th came and it was Adam's birthday as well as the day before Bella's birthday. We had decided to throw a party to celebrate Sage, Bella, and Adam's birthdays. My friend, Cas, also joined us, since we had plans to have a sleepover at some point since they had been out of town for their birthday. Ironically, their birthday was the same day as Sage's, which was July 10th.

Almost anyone above the age of thirteen was hanging out under the pavilion, chatting, or watching the kids run around. Keyword on almost anyone.

"Look, it's rainbow!" Bryan shouted to Harry as he pointed to a rainbow slide, "I dare you to go down it, I'll give you twenty bucks!"

"I'll reach the end before I can even start on it," Harry replied, crossing his arms. 

Bryan rolled his eyes, "You're not that tall, c'mon!"

I shook my head and looked at Adam, "Boy sees anything rainbow and has to show off how gay he is." 

Elizabeth looked at us with an indescribable look, "He's gay?"

"Well he's-" I began to say. 

Rodney interrupted, "What the hell is Sage doing?"

We all turned and saw that she was trying to climb onto the top of a slide cover. 

"Sage!" Elizabeth shouted over to her, getting up, "What do you think you're doing?!"

Sage looked over to us and waved, "Riley dared me!"

"So what?" Elizabeth shouted, throwing her hands up and walking over to her.

The rest of us chuckled. 

"That's going to be how your guy's kid's going to be," Cas said. 

"They'll get it from their uncles, no doubt," Adam said, glancing at Harry and Bryan. Bryan was still trying to convince Harry to do something dumb on the slide instead because he wanted to record it. Harry looked very unimpressed and like he was refusing to do whatever he was asking.

"Hey, what about me?" Rodney asked. 

"You're too normal," I answered. 

Rodney glared at me, "I'm too normal? Excuse me?"

"You know, you're not chaotic."

"I'm not chaotic? Excuse me?"

Cas nodded, "You look like you just came from a JcPenney's catalog for Father's Day."

"How's that have to do with anything?"

"You look like someone who says they don't put salt on their chicken because it's too spicy."

"Oh my god."

Adam joined in, "You the type to be like 'ah the water's so strong.'"

"'What is this toe-back you talk about? Smoke? Like, from a grill?'"

"'Does Mary wanna do what? Huh?'"

"'Oh aha, I drink all the time! I like to squeeze a little bit of lemon in my water to give a whole lot of a kick.'"

Rodney put his head in his hands, "I hate you so much."

Elizabeth came back over, "Hey Rodney, I'm sorry, but work just called me and they need me to come in. Apparently, Rachel's really sick and none of the other shift leaders can come in, and I can't leave them without someone there with a code."

He looked up at her, "I thought Rachel wasn't a shift leader yet. I thought she only had a safe code."

"She has the code for the registers as well now. I thought I told you. She's still in the process of becoming an official shift leader, but yeah she's got the tools she needs."

Adam interrupted, "So you're going to skip out on the party to go to work?"

"She's the manager, Adam, it's fine," Rodney said, "I'm just confused about the Rachel thing."

Elizabeth pulled her phone out and showed him the text from Rachel before showing it to Adam and me. She then scrolled up a few messages and showed us one from Rachel, asking how to set up a fingerprint for her code. 

"I can't leave them by themselves," she said to Adam as she gathered up her stuff, "since, nobody's really going to notice me being gone."

Rodney started to get up, "Do you need me to drive you?"

"I'll get an Uber, it's fine. You should be here in case Sage decides to try and do something stupid again."

Rodney sat back down, "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, of course. See you tonight," she said before walking off. 

"That was suspicious," Cas commented. 

"You think?" I mumbled. 

Rodney shook his head, "It's normal, she's the manager. She has to be there. Since you saw the texts, she wasn't lying."

"Still weird," Adam said. 

Sage came over and sat down next to Rodney, "Where'd Mom go?"

"She had to go to work. Better question, why did you think it was a good idea to try and climb onto the hood of the slide?" Rodney asked. 

"Oh, I think Riley wants me to come back over," she said as she started to get back up.

"Uh-uh, you're staying here and answering it."

Sage sighed, "They dared me to do it, I already told Mom!"

"Well, you still have to use your head and not do things that are going to get you hurt, Sage. Dare or no dare, you don't do that, you could get injured."

"Okay, dad. I get it."

Rodney wrapped his arm around her, "I love you, kiddo."

"Love you too," she mumbled. 

"I just want you to be safe."

"I know."

Cas spoke up, "I can tell which one of you guys is the favorite parent."

Sage looked at them, "Of course he is, he chose to be my dad. That makes him the favorite by default for choosing to put up with me."

Cas threw their hand to their chest, "That is the cutest thing I've ever heard."

"Of course it is. I'm cute," she said, putting her hands to her cheeks and smiling.

There was a shout from the playground and she got up, "I've got to see what they're doing now, see ya!"

Cas looked at Rodney, "You chose to be her father?"

Rodney nodded, a slight smile on his face, "That's the way she sees it, yes. I chose to marry her mother and become a father to Sage and Dylan."

"That's an adorable way of putting it."

There was an extremely loud popping noise from behind us that sounded like a gunshot almost. I turned around quickly, noticing it was some kid with a bunch of pop-its at the ground at once. I threw my hand to my heart as I turned back around.

"Why do they have to be so loud?" I asked.

I looked across the table at Rodney and noticed he was staring off into the distance, a flat look across his face. 

"Rodney?" Adam asked, getting up and walking around to the other side of the table, sitting next to him. 

Rodney looked at him and spoke softly, "Hi."

"Hi, kiddo," Adam said.

"What happened?"

"Just someone was playing around with those things you throw at the ground that pop. It just made a very loud noise."

"Oh. Okay," he mumbled, looking around, "Oh! We at the park!"

"Yeah, we are. You want to go do something?"

Rodney nodded and they both got up, walking off to the playground together. Cas looked at me, very confused. 

"I'm sure you have a lot of questions," I said.

"That's an understatement. What just happened in the past five minutes?"

"Elizabeth apparently has to go to work, Sage decided to come over for a moment, and now Rodney's regressed because he got scared due to the kid popping those stupid things. So now he and Adam are going to go play around on the playground."

"I'm still confused. Why did he act like he didn't know where he was and what had happened?"

"He has two different states of mind that have like… their own memories, so whenever he regresses, he forgets anything from his adult state."

"Oh. Interesting."

I nodded, "This is what my summer is going to be surrounding because it happens often so I've offered to help out when he's like this. He's like a three-year-old basically like that."

"So you're babysitting his kids and him basically?"

"Basically."

"You better be getting paid a lot."

"They pay me in their love."

Cas stared at me, "Fuck that."

I laughed, "Nah, I get good money. But I also get to get out of my house so that's good enough for me."

"Flynn!" Bryan shouted over to us. 

I sighed, "God, what's he want now?"

"Flynn! Flynn! Flynn Aaron Perry!"

"You really choose Aaron as your middle name?" Cas asked with a chuckle.

"Yes," I mumbled as I turned to look to where Bryan was. He was sitting on top of the outside of the highest slide, which was three stories up.

"Dare me fifty dollars to jump?" he shouted to me. 

"No! Bryan! Do not!" I shouted back.

He stood up and jumped off, despite all of us yelling at him to not. I jumped off the bench and ran over to him as he landed on the ground. 

"Are you dumb? You're going to encourage kids to do that too! And you could've gotten hurt!" I shouted. 

He shrugged as he pulled himself off the ground, "I lived."

I facepalmed, "You're so dumb."

"I know. Now c'mon, I want to show you something cool."

Before I could protest, he was dragging me towards the stairs to the second level. He dragged me over to some kaleidoscope telescope. 

"Look through it."

"Ew, I don't want to put my face up to something a bunch of kids with snotty noses have put their faces up to. And I don't really like being up here anyways."

"C'mon, it's cool-looking."

Cas, who had followed us, took a hold of it and looked through it, "Oh jeez, it looks like how I expect it would be like being on acid. Everything looks so freaky. You should look through it."

I sighed and took a hold of it, looking through it. There was a green filter over it and everything did look super weird like there were multiples of everything.

"Woah," I said, pulling away from it, "that is weird."

"It is, right? I want glasses like that though, that'd be so cool," Bryan said. 

"I think your vision would be very messed up and it wouldn't even work right. The reason it's a telescope is that you can only use one eye to do it," Cas explained.

"Don't kill my dreams," Bryan whined, frowning.

"Why are you acting so childish and dumb today, what'd you take?" I asked. 

"I haven't eaten properly in the past few days so I'm very caffeinated and sugared up right now, I've drunk almost an entire liter of Mountain Dew. I've had so much chocolate and candy."

"Did you scare off your boyfriend with this behavior?"

"No, he went to the bathroom, I think."

"Boyfriend?" Cas asked, "Harry's your boyfriend?"

"No! It's a joke Flynn and Adam have going. They ship us."

"Ooh, I ship it too. You two are cute together."

Bryan rolled his eyes, "Whatever."

Cas and I decided to join Bryan in his weird shenanigans in the park, mostly to make sure he didn't encourage kids to do anything stupid or hurt himself. After the fifth time of trying to convince himself to not jump off yet another thing (this time the top of the toddler playground), I got a phone call from Adam.

"Hey babe, what's up?"

"Uh, can you come back to the pavilion?"

"What's wrong?"

"Please? I'll tell you when you get here."

"Alright, give me a minute."

He hung up on me and I sighed, shaking my head as I put my phone back in my pocket.

"What's up?" Cas asked me.

"He needs me back at the pavilion, he won't tell me what's wrong. Bryan! Come down! Something's up with Adam and I cannot deal with that and you!"

He climbed down, "Is everything okay? Is it the kids? Is it Rodney?"

"I don't know, you want to come with me?"

"Uh yeah!"

We walked together towards the pavilion, grabbing Harry away from a very intense tic-tac-toe game with one of Sage's friends. When we got there, we saw Rodney sitting on the bench, tears rushing down his face. Adam was sitting next to him, one arm wrapped around him. 

"What happened?" I asked, rushing over. 

"He saw a certain somebody jumping off of the second story and decided he was going to do it as well. He hit his head against the pole instead as he landed."

Bryan looked to the ground, "I didn't think anyone would try and mimic me."

Adam glared at him, "Well, Rodney did."

Rodney looked up at and at both of them before speaking up, "'on't be mad at him. Not his fault."

"No, it is," Bryan said, looking up at him, "I was being dumb and didn't really think through the fact that kids are… very impressionable. I'm sorry you got hurt."

Rodney got up and hugged him, "It's okay."

Bryan tensed up in shock, his eyes very wide as he looked down at Rodney. He patted him on the back, "I think you're probably going to need an ice pack if you hit your head."

Rodney nodded as he pulled away, "That's what Adam said."

"But we don't have an ice pack here," Adam said. 

Bryan rolled his eyes, "We have a cooler."

Harry looked around and saw a random plastic bag and grabbed it, heading to the coolers. Bryan took off his button-up shirt, which he was, of course, wearing over a t-shirt. Harry filled the bag full of ice and took the shirt from Bryan, wrapping it around the bag.

"Homemade ice pack for your majesty," Harry said, handing it to Adam. 

"I could do without the snarkiness," Adam said, as Rodney sat back down and he set it against his head. 

"Alright, 'dad,'" Harry replied, "next time you figure it out."

"I'm sorry I was freaking out and didn't know what to do," Adam snapped.

I sat down next to him as I wrapped my arms around him, "Hey, it's okay, they're just messing around."

Adam continued holding the ice pack up to Rodney's head, "Whatever. This is shaping up to be a great birthday."

"What do you mean?" Harry asked, sitting down as well. 

"I don't know, like, I'm eighteen now. And where am I celebrating it? In a park, surrounded by a bunch of kids and taking care of my older cousin right now. I don't know, I didn't expect my life to be like this, you know. And now, now we have Elizabeth running off to work, supposedly. Rodney's younger, so who's gotta clean up the mess and get the kids home? Oh, what's that? Adam'll take care of it? Sure. Sure, Adam will, I guess."

Rodney looked at Adam, fresh tears forming, "'m sorry, Adam."

"Hey, no, it's okay," Adam said, patting his back, "I'm just being a bit annoying, that's all. It's not your fault. Stuff happens, it always does and always will, I guess."

Harry spoke up, "Hey, Adam, we will help you with all this. And I didn't know you'd be upset with the party, why didn't you say you didn't want them doing this on your birthday? We could've gotten them to do it yesterday or tomorrow."

Adam sighed, "Because you only requested my birthday off. You worked yesterday and you're going to work tomorrow. I figured that… you couldn't request off more than just my birthday because you'd lose a lot of hours and so would they if it was going to be tomorrow. I know how hard it is for you, trying to keep us afloat and… sometimes I wish... we were home. I don't even… get to see my parents for my birthday, it's…"

There were tears forming in his eyes as well as he pulled the ice pack away from Rodney's head, handing it to him to hold up instead. Rodney put it on the table, wrapping his arms around Adam as well, hugging him tightly. Harry was staring at Adam, his mouth agape.

"Hey. I had no idea that's how you felt, Adam, why didn't you say anything? I… I could've requested off more days, I have vacation time built up enough if I needed it. And I could've seen if mom and dad could come down-"

"I don't want to be a burden on everyone!" Adam exclaimed, throwing his hands up before pounding them on his knees, "Everyone's dealing with so much, always have, I didn't want to ask for too much from everyone!"

The tears were forming at a faster rate as his chest rose and fell dramatically with every shaky breath of his. 

"And I'm terrible at taking care of everyone. I let Rodney get hurt and instead of accepting the blame, I blamed Bryan."

"You fairly blamed me though," Bryan said, "I was being an idiot."

"But I was the one that was supposed to be watching him."

"Look, dude, kids get hurt. They will always be a step ahead of you, doing the dumb shit you tell them not to. You're one person, you cannot always be able to prevent them from getting hurt. You cannot be on top of their every move all the time."

"Uh," I interrupted, "speaking of that, who's watching the other kids right now if we're all here, chatting?"

All of our eyes widened and mumbled out a collective, "Oh shit."

Then, we realized Cas wasn't standing with us anymore. I got up and looked towards the playground, seeing them with the kids near the swings. Sage was swinging with a friend of hers while Cas was pushing Dylan and Bella both. They saw me looking over and waved. 

"Don't worry, I got it handled," they shouted over to me, "you guys are great babysitters, by the way!"

I could practically hear Adam digging himself further into a hole full of self-loathing, "See! I'm terrible at this, I cannot keep up!"

"Adam, it's fine," I said, sitting back down, "it's fine. They're fine. We're fine."

Harry got up, "Hey, why don't you and Flynn go out somewhere to eat and Bryan and I will wrap up here and get the kids home? Then we can celebrate your birthday properly some other way."

"No, I want… I want to be here, I just, I imagined my birthday better and I guess I didn't… think right."

"Adam. You're not happy here. It's your birthday, spend how you want."

"I want to be with my family! And my family's here!"

I hugged him, "Babe, let's go home then, and they can meet up with us there once things are wrapped up here, like presents and stuff."

"Come with?" Rodney asked. 

"Yes, you can come with. We'll take Rodney home with us, Cas too if they want to hang out with us and all of our craziness, and we'll wait for Bryan and Harry and the kids to get done here for us to celebrate more chill. Where nobody will get hurt or do dumb stuff. And maybe we can call your parents so they can at least wish you a happy birthday. Okay?"

Harry handed his keys to Adam, "You can take my car since if Bryan and I are taking the kids home, we'll need their car seats to be set up and I'm not putting them in my car."

Adam grabbed Rodney's keys and gave them to Harry, "Are you sure about this? You don't have to, I can stay, I'm fine-"

"It's alright. I'm the older brother here, I'm the one who should have to worry about how things are going to get done and… the one helping with all this stuff with Rodney and his kids."

"But you can't, you have to work."

"But I could be doing a lot more than I am. He's just as much my cousin as yours, as well as the kids just being as much my nieces and nephew, kind of. I can safely get them home just as easily as you can."

Adam sighed deeply, "Fine."

"Thank you. I'm going to let the kids know we'll be wrapping up soon, get presents done with, and somehow explain how both of the kids' parents disappeared. But you don't need to worry about it. Go home, chill out." 

Adam, Rodney, and I got up as Adam asked once again if Harry was sure. 

"I will push you into our car if you do not leave," Harry threatened.

"Okay, okay!"

I went to get Cas with Bryan, who took over pushing the kids. 

"We're going to head home, you want to join us? We're going to celebrate Adam's birthday a little more relaxed."

"Sure. I'd go for relaxed right now."

And so, an hour later, we were gathered in the living room of Rodney's. Adam and I were cuddled up to each other while Cas was on the other couch, flipping through movies on one of our streaming accounts. Rodney was on the ground in front of the coffee table, drawing something. 

"Are we going to wait for everyone else?" Cas asked. 

"Uh, probably. Why, did you find a movie?"

"Yes, but, maybe not if the kids are going to be here."

"They'll probably either not pay attention or play in the backroom."

Cas glanced at Rodney for a moment, "What about him?"

Adam spoke up, "Yeah, maybe we should watch something more child-friendly. We can watch whatever you found later, we'll hang out sometime soon when it's just us three."

"Good idea, I'll just add it to the list."

Cas continued flipping through movies, "Hey, Rodney, you got any movie suggestions?"

Rodney stopped what he was doing to look at Cas, "Hmm. Anything?"

"Yeah, sure, hit me with your best idea."

"Hmm. Oh, Peter Pan! My mama loves that movie!" Rodney exclaimed, smiling, before the smile faded moments later, "Or, I guess, she loved it."

"Peter Pan sounds like a great choice, but are you sure? It's not going to make you upset? It might stir up emotions."

He shook his head, "It makes me remember good stuff."

"Okay, Peter Pan it is."

Cas searched it up and put it on, throwing the remote to me afterward. I caught it and set it down on the armrest, starting to watch the movie. But, my attention span grew shorter as the movie went on and at some point, Adam gave me a kiss on the cheek which drew all my remaining attention to him.

"What's the kiss for?" 

"Just because I love you. That's all," he said, smiling at me. 

I kissed him back, "I love you too."

The front door swung open and the kids, as well as Bryan and Harry, poured in. The kids saw the movie playing and instantly became engrossed in it. Bryan saw Adam and me, who were still tangled up in each other. 

"Oh, are we interrupting in the middle of something?" Bryan teased.

"Oh shut up." 

"Giving him his eighteen kisses?"

I grabbed a pillow from the couch and threw it at him, "Next time it'll be something harder."

He picked the pillow up after it hit him and he hit me over the head with it, "Same."

"Don't fight on my birthday," Adam said, looking between the both of us, "please."

"Sorry Adam," Bryan said, blowing him a kiss.

"Hey! Save that for your own boyfriend," I said, glaring at him. 

"For the last time, Harry is not my boyfriend!" Bryan exclaimed, crossing his arms, "It's getting tiring hearing the same joke."

Harry interrupted, "Anyways, we got some c-a-k-e mix. I figured we can make one instead of getting a storebought one, since the one from the party got all ate and maybe it'll be fun."

"Oh, this'll be fun," Adam said, looking at me, "Hopefully we don't destroy the kitchen."

"Cas do you want to help us make it?" I asked as Adam and I got up.

Cas shook their head, "I'm invested in this movie, I haven't watched it in years."

"Alright, your choice."

We headed into the kitchen, Harry pulling the box out, starting to read the instructions.

"Uh, Harry. That's not cake mix," Adam said, grabbing the box from him and pointing to the front, which clearly showed it was brownies. 

"Oh. Shit."

"Brownies are better anyways, since, with that brand, they tell you how to make them 'cake-like,'" Bryan said, pointing to the instruction at the bottom, "See, 'for cake-like brownies, add two eggs, a third of vegetable oil and a forth of water.'"

"Ew, water. We can use milk and it'll come out better," I suggested. 

"What's the oven have to be set at?" Harry asked, walking over to the oven. 

"Three-fifty," Adam answered. 

Bryan grabbed a mixing bowl while I went to get the ingredients. I brought them over as Adam opened up the packaging for the brownies and poured it into the bowl. I measured out the ingredients and poured them in afterward. Adam began mixing it all together. 

"You're mixing it wrong," Harry said, grabbing the whisk from him, "you have to do it rougher to get everything all mixed together right."

"That's what she said."

Harry glared at him and picked up the whisk out of the batter, letting most of it drip off before shaking it in Adam's direction, causing the batter to hit him in the face. Adam wiped the batter off his face, deeply sighing. Harry was smirking at him as if he was taunting him to get revenge.

"I'm just going to ignore that and clean up," Adam said, grabbing the measuring cup I used, filling up with water. 

Harry went back to mixing up the batter, when Adam filled up the entire measuring cup and turned to Harry. 

"Hey Harry," Adam said.

Harry turned to look at him as Adam splashed him in the face with the full two cups worth of water. His shirt was drenched in water as well as his parts of his hair.

"Oh, it's on."

"I don't want to get involved in this," I began to say. 

Bryan flicked some icing at my face, smirking. I glared at him, crossing my arms. 

"Oh no, I'm going to get a stern talking to aren't I?"

"Bryan Franklin Perry, now why did you," the corners of my lips began turning up as a laugh started to work it's way up, but I tried to continue on, "decide to flick icing at me?"

Bryan kept smirking, "Because it was hilarious."

I grabbed the icing container and scooped up a bunch, throwing it at him as the laughter escaped, "Oh is it now?"

The following five minutes featured the four of us throwing various things in each other's faces. Cas walked in and stared at us before clearing their throat. I turned to them.

"Hey."

Cas shook their head, "You guys are extra white."

"Care to join?" I asked.

They shook their head, "I just came to see what was taking you guys so long. You haven't even put it in a pan yet?"

I looked over at the bowl that was still holding the brownie batter in it. Cas came over, grabbing it and poured it into a pan.

"And you guys are how old again?" Cas asked, giving a stare at Adam and Harry.

"Ah, what would we do without you Cas, so thankful for you pouring it into a pan for us," Adam retorted.

Cas smirked, "You know you love me being around, I am the one that got you and Flynn to finally man up and get together."

Harry looked offended, throwing his hand to his chest, "Um, as Adam's brother, I'm the one who got them together. I literally drove them to their dates, including the one that Adam asked Flynn out on."

"Uh, Adam was not the one who asked me out," I interjected. 

"Uh, yeah I was?" Adam said. 

I laughed, "No, you were stumbling over your words and I'm the one who was like 'becoming boyfriends?'"

"That still counts as me asking you out!"

"Not really. Since I also initiated our first kiss."

Bryan grabbed the pan and put it into the oven, "Are you guys enjoying talking about stuff I had no part in? Seeing as I had no idea my brother was my brother at that time? Let alone he was bi and into Adam."

"Yes, we are. You haven't been a part of our group long enough," Cas said.

Bryan glared at them, "I've literally been around longer than any of you, I'm his brother! And, I literally knew you before Flynn did."

"So what."

"Also, let me note here, I've been more involved these last few weeks with Flynn's adventures in babysitting, so. Checkmate."

"So what?"

"So… So, there's a point there, shut up."

I interrupted them, "Why are we having fake ass arguments over here?"

"Because they're fun," Bryan answered. 

"Well, maybe instead we should clean up since four out of five of us in here are covered in ingredients."

"Good point."

The following twenty minutes basically contained us cleaning up both ourselves and the kitchen, and then going into the living room to find that the kids had retreated to the backroom to play Minecraft. Bryan decided to join them, as they were trying to build a house with redstone in it once again. As I was about to leave to go with Harry and Adam to check on the brownies, Rodney called out to me.

"Can you stay and help?" 

"I don't know how much help I'll be, I'm not good at redstone, Bryan is. We've established that before."

"Please?"

He was flashing me the pleading puppy dog eyes and I couldn't resist. I walked over and sat down with them, "Fine, what's the vibe of the house?"

They all began explaining how they wanted the house, overlapping in their explanations. Eventually, they all landed on a generic idea, and Bryan and I helped them build the house. Of course, they all still had varied ideas of how they wanted the house to be so we tried to incorporate their more specific ideas into the house. 

"What are you guys doing?" Cas asked, entering the room with a brownie in hand. 

"Building a house- the brownies are done?" I asked as I looked at them. 

Obviously, saying that the brownies were done was a dumb thing to say, because all of the kids, except Rodney, jumped up and ran into the kitchen to get one. 

"Well, we were building a house," I answered.

"That's why Harry spelled out cake earlier rather than saying it," Bryan pointed out. 

I shushed him, "At least one kid stayed." 

"What's going on?" Rodney asked.

"Nothing to be concerned about," I answered. 

"M'kay." 

The kids soon came back with their own brownies, as well as Adam and Harry with brownies for themselves, Bryan, Rodney, and I. 

"We were going to put a bi flag on it but uh, we used up all the icing during our fight," Harry said as he handed Bryan his brownie. 

Adam handed Rodney and me our brownies before sitting down with us. 

"Danke," Rodney said. 

"Willkommen," Adam replied. 

The kids all went back to building with Bryan and I managed to get away to at least sit on the futon with Harry and Cas, while Adam took over helping out. 

"Do you remember that one time we spent weeks making houses for all our friends?" I asked Cas. 

"Yes, Oh my God, and Adam's the only one who ever saw them. And what's-his-face asked us for a lava floor, which apparently we weren't the first person he asked that from." 

"Yeah, there was some other kid making treehouses for his friends, and the kid had to make a lava bucket pixel art or some shit, right?" 

"You think after the first person says 'no I'm not making a lava floor' he'd learn not to ask for it. Though, with a treehouse, I'd figure it's a bit harder than a normal house to make a lava floor." 

"Uh, yeah, break a block and you got the entire forest up in flames." 

"I wonder if he had the same issue, making houses for people for them to never see them." 

"Probably." 

Adam overheard us, "They were good houses though, it's their loss they didn't see them. Harry, you remember them right? I showed them to you one time." 

"Oh yeah, and your house and Flynn's were connected? It was really cute." 

"And they had two little pixel hearts between the pathways to their house," Cas reminded me, smirking. 

I cringed a little bit remembering the hearts, "Did you have to remind me of that part?" 

"Yes, Superwholock boy."

"Hey! I was never into Sherlock. And, also you are really into Supernatural just as much as I am."

"Clearly," Adam mumbled. 

Cas sighed, "For the last time, Adam, my name does not come from the show. It comes from my deadname." 

"Yeah, but you only stuck with it because of Supernatural." 

"You guys argue a lot," Rodney commented.

"I learned from the best friendship group I've ever seen," Adam said, smirking. 

A smile crossed Rodney's face before disappearing and he mumbled out, "I miss 'em."

Adam patted his back, "I know."

Before I had time to question what they were talking about, Bryan got my attention.

"Flynn, look, Tubbs showed up!"

"Wait, really?" I looked over at his phone, "Holy shit how?"

"I don't really know! He just showed up!"

"Oh, he's been over a lot at my place," Cas said. 

"I haven't been playing as long as you, so shove it," Bryan replied. 

"Sometimes you guys act like children," Harry said.

"Says the one who started a food fight," Bryan replied. 

"Well, you know what they say, be gay, do crime."

"First of all, who says that? Secondly, a food fight isn't a crime, but okay."

The rest of the day went like that, playing video games, talking, and having fake fights. We decided as it drew closer to night, we'd all spend the night there. And despite us insisting on the kids to sleep in their own rooms, they wanted to stay with us. So that's how we ended up with a huge tent in the living room and all the pillows in the house on the floor. 

At some point during a movie we put on to hopefully get the kids to go to sleep, I fell asleep in Adam's arms. I awoke to someone shaking my shoulder. 

"Hmm, what?" I mumbled, opening my eyes. 

Elizabeth was there, kneeling down next to me. I took in what was around me. Cas was curled up with a pillow in their arms. Harry was sitting against the couch with Bryan lying down with his head in his lap. Adam and I were somewhat cuddling with each other. Dylan was fast asleep as well as Sage, both of them curled up with their respective stuffed animals. Bella was lying on Rodney's chest, who had his arm wrapped around her. 

"What time is it?" I whispered.

"It's about midnight," she answered in a whisper, "why are the kids out here?"

"Insisted they stay out here with us because… Cas, Adam, and Harry wanted to stay the night with Bryan and I and we can't stay at my house. I hope it's not an issue, I can wake them up and tell them they can't stay here."

Elizabeth shook her head, "Just help me get the kids to their bedrooms. I'll wake up Rodney, he's already holding Bella, he can take her."

I nodded and got up, picking up Dylan and his pillow and bedding he dragged out while she woke Rodney up. I carried him to his bedroom and set him down in bed. When I came back out, I could hear the two of them whisper-arguing. 

"They're your kids, you should've taken charge and made them go to bed," Elizabeth said to him.

"What do you want me to say? I'm sorry, Eliza," Rodney came back with. 

I quietly walked over to them, taking Bella as well, noticing that Sage woke up during the fight. I waved her over and she quietly left the fort, following me. I put Bella in her bed before taking Sage to her bedroom. 

"I'm sorry, Flynn," Sage mumbled as she sat down on her bed. 

"Hey, why?" I asked, sitting down next to her.

"I should've made them go to bed," she answered, "I know that… with you know, he couldn't tell them to."

"Hey, no. It's not your fault. Look, first of all, it's not that big of a deal. Secondly, when your dad's like that, the ones in charge are Adam and me. Therefore, it's up to us to get you guys to do stuff. So it'd be our faults, okay? It's not yours, you're a child. You do not need to be in charge of your little siblings. Okay?"

She gave me a shrug, "'s what my mom tells me. Tells me a lotta stuff."

"Like what?"

"Like… there's stuff I can't talk about."

"Why not?"

Sage shook her head, "I can't… I can't say."

"Sage, if something's happening to you guys, you can tell me. Or your dad-"

"I can't tell him, no. It'd ruin everything," Sage said, "I can't lose him."

"Why would you lose him?"

"'Cause… he'd leave her meaning he'd leave us."

There was a knock against the door before it opened up. I could feel Sage tense up before realizing with me that it was just Rodney. 

"Everything okay?" he asked. 

Sage nodded, "Just talkin' 'bout a dream I had. It was kinda weird, that's all."

He came over and knelt down, "I'm sorry if we woke you, sweetie."

"You guys okay?" she asked.

He nodded, "Yeah, of course. She was just… concerned about you guys is all."

"Where's she?"

"Uh, she went to bed."

"Are you going to stay with her?"

"Not tonight, no, I'll be, uh, with everyone else. You know, they might wake up and we'll all decide to paint our nails and talk about boys, you know."

Sage giggled, "You guys wouldn't do that!"

"Why not?"

"'Cause you guys don't have nail polish, duh! It's all in mom's bathroom."

"But we could talk about boys."

Sage shook her head, "They'd just talk about their boyfriends, and what boy would you talk about?"

"Hmm, my boss?"

"Ew. Boys are disgusting."

Rodney shook his head, "Of course you think that."

"What about girls?" I asked, mainly as a joke. 

Sage tapped her cheek a few times as she thought, "Girls are cute."

I held back a laugh, "They really are."

"Like Lily," she added.

"Was that the one who dared you to jump off the slide hood?"

Rodney shook his head, "That was Riley. Lily's the blonde girl who ran up to Sage and told her what the present she got her was."

"Ooh, your girlfriend's the one who spoiled the surprise?" I asked Sage. 

Sage nodded, "She was just excited about it."

"Well, we can discuss more of the events of today tomorrow, right now it's midnight and you need to get sleep," he said to her, outstretching his arms, "Can I get a hug goodnight?"

Sage nodded and hugged him, "Night dad."

I got up and headed out of the room, Rodney following after. 

"Are you going to be okay?" I asked Rodney as we headed back to the fort. 

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?"

"I don't know. She kind of is forcing you to sleep out here?"

"No, I decided to stay out here."

"You sure about that?"

He nodded, "Yeah, I just, it's nicer out here, it's not as cold as my bedroom."

"Okay," I mumbled as I got into the fort, lying next to Adam, "Goodnight then."

"Night Flynn," Rodney said, lying down where he was earlier. 

As I lied there, trying to fall asleep, everything was running through my head. What was Sage talking about? What was going on between Elizabeth and Rodney? Why did she seem fine with me but went off on Rodney? I eventually did drift off to sleep, forgetting the questions running through my head until the answers hit me months later.


	5. Kids

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warnings: Mentions of the political atmosphere in 2016, arguing as per usual, running off, very minor dysphoria reference, money issues, and more references to Rodney's trauma.   
> Spoilery TW: Also allusions to cheating if you can pick up on them.

As fast as the summer came for us, it went away even faster and I was going to be entering my senior year of high school. It was August 6th already and we were just over a week away from the first day. I was planning on spending the day on my own since Elizabeth was supposedly staying home to take the kids shopping and Rodney hadn't regressed in a few days because he apparently felt fine. My parents had gone to West Palm for some event with my dad's job and Bryan was out with a few friends. At the very least, I'd get a few hours of solitude before anything could come crashing down, and how hard would it be if Rodney did regress? It'd just be him and he had warmed up to me so much that it wasn't hard to watch him. 

As I was setting up for my perfect day alone, I was looking for my laptop charger everywhere. My laptop was on the desk, but the charger was nowhere to be found. I checked everywhere at least three times before I tried calling Bryan.

"What?" he answered on the last ring.

"Where the hell is my charger?"

"How should I know? My laptop doesn't use the same one."

"Did you see me with it recently?"

"I don't pay attention to your laptop charger, Flynn. Ask Adam, maybe he knows."

Bryan then hung up on me, leaving me to sigh deeply as I looked for Adam's number in my phone. I had to call three separate times to get him to pick up.

"What's up?" he answered.

"Where's my charger?"

"Which one?"

"For my laptop!"

"Uh, I have no idea. Maybe it's still at Rodney's, didn't you bring your laptop there a few days ago?"

I stood there, trying to remember where I would've left it, "Shit. You're right, I was charging it in their backroom and then took the laptop to the living room. Dammit. Alright, thanks, babe."

"You're welcome. I'll talk to you tonight, I'm helping my brother's friend out with moving."

"Oof, good luck. Love you, talk to you later."

"I love you too."

I went back to my bedroom to get quickly dressed so I looked presentable, before rushing over to their house. Just a simple in and out, get my charger and leave, right?

"Are you serious?" I heard Rodney say as I walked into the house, but it was to somebody else.

"Rodney, I'm the manager, I have to," Elizabeth said to him.

"You took today off so we can go shopping for our kids, you barely spend any time with them-"

"I spend more than enough time with them! I birthed them for Christ sakes, don't pull that card on me! We need the money anyway."

They were standing in the living room, Elizabeth was dressed in her work uniform.

"I just can't believe that you're- oh, hey Flynn," Rodney started to say before he saw me.

Elizabeth looked over at me before directing her attention back to Rodney, "Oh, great, he's here, he can go shopping with you if you don't think you can watch your kids on your own. I have to go to work."

She grabbed her keys and phone as she headed out the door, leaving Rodney sputtering out words before sighing deeply and rubbing his temples. 

"Uh, well, that was…" I said aloud.

"A fucking disaster," Rodney finished for me, "she always does this. I… Whatever, I have to take the kids back to school shopping today by myself I guess."

"I… I can come with," I offered, instantly regretting it, watching as my plans for the day flushed themselves down the drain. 

"No, it's fine, I can handle it myself."

"What if something happens while you guys are gone? It's better if I come with, you know, you haven't regressed in a few days."

Rodney sighed but nodded, "You're right. Okay, thank you so much. Let me just get the kids ready and we can head out."

An hour later, after many obstacles with getting the kids ready and getting on track to the mall, we had finally arrived and we were heading inside. The second we got in there, the kids spotted a toy store and took off full speed ahead. 

"We need a leash for them," I said.

"I tried telling Elizabeth we should get those backpack leashes as a joke, she yelled at me for twenty minutes straight of how dumb they were," Rodney said as we both followed after the kids. 

Bella was in the boy's section, trying to grab at a Spiderman toy. Dylan was with Sage, looking at tiaras and princess wands. Sage grabbed one for Dylan and put it on his head. 

"Do not put a tiara on him," Rodney said, walking over, "you have no idea who else put that on."

"But he wants one," Sage said.

"Well, maybe when we're done getting you guys what you need, we can come back and get one, but we'll clean it before he can wear it," Rodney said, pulling it off Dylan's head and putting it back. 

He managed to escort them out of the store while I picked up Bella and followed after them. We headed towards a clothing store.

"Alright, Sage's school has a dress code, so we have to make sure her stuff is appropriate but with Dylan and Bella's pre-k, we get their shirts from the school itself and they don't care about what pants they wear."

"Ah, dress codes are always fun," I said as we started looking around for clothes for Sage.

"Why can't I get cool stuff," she asked as we had picked out a few collared shirts.

"Because the school won't let you have cool stuff," I answered.

"That's dumb," she mumbled.

"I know, kid."

"Well," Rodney said, "I'm sure we can get a few cool stuff for you, Sage. There are weekends, you have to wear something then."

The brightest smile crossed her face, "Really?"

Rodney smiled too, "Yeah, of course. Not too much though, but if you see something that really catches your eye, we can get it."

Sage jumped up and down in excitement before hugging him tightly, "Thank you, dad!"

He hugged her back, "C'mon, let's continue shopping."

The rest of the clothes shopping for her went by kind of smoothly. But the entire time, Rodney seemed off, getting more and more off by the minute. As we were looking for clothes for Dylan, being assaulted by all the bright lights and colors of clothing, something clicked for him and he was no longer an adult. I noticed him looking around in wonder like he'd never been in a clothing store before. 

"Hey, Rodney, you okay?" I asked. 

He looked at me and nodded, "Yeah, 'm okay! What're we doin'?"

"We're shopping for the kids, they go back to school soon. We're almost done with getting their clothes."

"Oh, okay!"

We continued looking around for Dylan, thankfully without it taking too long since we were getting mostly just some pants and shorts, with a few shirts he begged to get added to the mix. 

"Okay, now to get stuff for Bella," I started to say, turning to where I thought she was. Alas, she was not there. Nor was Sage.

"Dylan, Rodney, where did Sage and Bella go?" I asked them, looking at both of them. Both offered me a shrug. 

I sighed deeply, "Okay, okay, c'mon, please don't run off as well you two, okay?"

We started looking around for them, my heart racing faster with every second that passed that we couldn't find them. After a few minutes, I heard a slight shout come from the men's section that sounded like Sage. We quickly went towards where I heard the shout and saw her standing next to a clothing rack, her hands on her hips. 

"Bella, c'mon! Cas said they'll help us get back to the others, and we can't do that if you're hiding!"

I looked around and saw Cas standing on the other side of the clothing rack. My heart stopped racing as fast as I approached Sage.

"Why did you two leave?" I asked. 

Sage looked up at me, "I'm sorry, Bella ran off and I followed. When I caught her, we were across the store, and I had no idea how to get back. We ran into Cas though and they said they'd help."

I looked at Cas, "Hey Cas."

"You're trying to watch four kids all by yourself?" Cas asked, noticing Rodney and Dylan. 

"Well, the trip started with two adults but somebody kind of got triggered along the way," I said, nodding, "Thank you for offering to help them."

"Well, of course, I figured you'd be in deep trouble if you lost them."

I nodded, "Yeah, let's all agree to never mention this again."

I looked down at the clothing rack that Bella was hiding in, pushing the clothes aside so I could see her, "Hey Bella, can you please come out so we can get going and get you clothes?"

"No!" she shouted.

"She's just been repeating that every time I tell her we need to go get her clothes," Sage pointed out. 

"Is there something wrong with the clothes we need to get you?" I asked, kneeling down. 

She looked at me and nodded. 

"Why?"

Her face turned up at the question before she babbled out something.

"Can you repeat that for me, I'm sorry."

She repeated it and it sounded like "No boy." 

"No boy? What?"

Rodney came over, kneeling down as well. He pulled something out of the basket and held it up to her. She looked at him and nodded, pointing at what he was holding up before trying to grab at it. I looked at what it was and saw it was one of the shorts we picked out for Dylan. 

"These are Dylan's," Rodney said, putting them back, "but you want your own?"

"Yea!" she exclaimed. 

Rodney looked at me, "Wants boys clothes."

"How did you figure that out?" I asked.

He shrugged, "I 'unno."

I looked back at Bella, "So the issue is that you want clothes from the boys' section? Because we can do that, that's no issue."

She gave me a nod.

"Alright, let's go then."

She got up and got out of the clothing rack as I stood back up and helped Rodney back up as well. 

"Alright crew, let's go."

Cas spoke up, "Do you want me to tag along? I'm kind of just killing time here at this point, my parents dropped me off to shop while they're off having a date since my dad's off work for the day. I've already got most of what I need, so."

"You don't have to, I have it under control."

Cas nodded, "Sure you do bud. Uh, Mr. Have It Under Control, where pray tell has Dylan gone?"

I looked to where he had been and surprise, he wasn't there. 

"Oh my God, where the hell did he go?"

Cas pointed to a mannequin across the way, where Dylan was pulling on its arm. I rushed over and grabbed him, "We do not pull off their arms, that is rude to the mannequin. C'mon, let's go." 

I shot a glance at Cas, "Fine, join if you want to." 

Cas smirked, "Happily if I get to roast your skills." 

We made our journey back to the boys' section, heading into the younger toddlers area to find more pants and shorts for Bella. 

"Why does it matter what gender the clothing is for?" I asked as we entered the area.

"Flynn, you had a breakdown about what color cloth you would get if you had to get glasses. Which you don't need anyway."

"It's about the perceived gender of myself, I want to pass, Cas."

Cas rolled their eyes, "Since, girls clothes are ridiculously bright and frilly, I don't blame the kid."

"Bella is also two, I don't even think she knows what gender is, or she shouldn't. What, do the two-year-olds on the playground throw out transphobic remarks?"

Cas stared at me with their mouth wide open and eyes squinting, "Flynn, I am going to pretend you didn't just say that so that I can hold onto the idea that you're not a complete idiot."

"I just mean like, how is there already this distinction of boy versus girls clothes?"

"Maybe, I don't know, the differences between Dylan's clothes and Sage's clothes and connecting gender to that. I mean you both referred to Dylan's clothes as 'boys clothes' so if that's what Bella wants, referring to it as boy's clothes is what's going to happen to get it."

"Whatever, it's weird."

We started looking around for clothes for Bella, with her being drawn to a ton of Spiderman stuff for some reason. Every Spiderman thing she pointed out, begging to get it. We already had a few shirts in the basket and she was tugging on another shirt.

"Bells, we're here to get you clothes for school. So no, we are not getting every Spiderman thing you see."

She frowned and let go of it, stomping her feet. 

"Maybe next time when both of your parents come out to shop, they'll get it for you. But not right now. Since, we still have to go back to that toy shop and afford something there, right?"

Her face lit up at that.

"Let's finish shopping for school stuff and we'll get lunch and then go to that toy store, okay?"

She nodded and we continued onwards. Shortly after we were finished and checking out, thankfully with all the kids in tow. 

"What should we do for lunch?" I asked Cas as we were leaving the store.

"I don't know."

Dylan piped up, "Mommy's work's near here! We could get that!"

"You get a discount," Sage pointed out. 

"Well, we can't exactly go into her place with Rodney with how he is right now, because she's working and well… she'd notice something's up," I explained.

"Then… he can stay here with Cas, we can go and get the food and bring it back," Sage suggested. 

"I'm not bringing just you kids with me and not him, that's even more suspicious."

Sage thought about it, "Oh! Just bring me then, we can say he stayed with Bella and Dylan, and you took me to help order. Just say that Bella and Dylan wanted to go to some store or something."

I looked at Cas, "Uh, would you be able to take care of Bella, Dylan, and Rodney by yourself?"

Cas nodded, "I'll just throw them on one of the mall rides if they get to be too much. No worries, I've babysat worse kids. Just, don't be too long."

"Alright, I guess we've decided, are you guys sure you want stuff from her place?"

All of them nodded.

"Okay, lemme know what you guys want then."

They all threw their orders at me and I wrote them down in my notes, "Thank God I get a discount."

Sage and I headed to the car after we got the orders and began our drive to Elizabeth's work. Ten minutes later, Sage and I had arrived and headed inside. Sage ran up to the ordering area. 

"Hi!" she exclaimed, waving to one of the employees.

"Oh hey Sage, what are you doing here?" the girl, who's name tag read Sara as I got closer, asked Sage with a smile.

"Getting lunch, duh! Where's my mom?" Sage asked, looking around. 

Sara looked confused, "Not here today, she took today off."

It was my turn to be confused, "She said she had to work today and that's why she couldn't go shopping for the kids. I had to join her husband because he felt he couldn't go shopping by himself. She said you guys asked her to come in."

Sara shook her head, "I don't believe any of us did. Hold on."

She got on her headset, "Hey, do any of you know if Elizabeth was going to come in today?... Yeah, I figured, her daughter's here, with the babysitter I guess, saying that she said she had to come in today?... None of you guys have talked to her today?... Alright."

She shook her head, "Yeah, no, she lied to you guys."

"Why would she… Uh, okay. Thanks."

"Sorry about that. Uh, so, what can I get for you guys today?"

I started ordering everything, still wondering what was going on with Elizabeth. 

"Oh, Sage, I never asked, what did you want?"

Sage shook her head, "I'm not hungry."

"You're the one that tried figuring out how we'd get here, and you don't want to eat it?"

She shook her head, "Nope. I'm good."

"Okay, uh, I guess that's all then."

I paid for everything and we stood off to the side waiting for everything to be made. 

"Sage… did you know she wouldn't be here?" I asked her.

Sage looked at me, "No…"

"Sage."

"I didn't know she'd not be here but…"

"You had a feeling?"

She gave me a small nod. Before I could press the issue harder, Sara was calling us over to our food. 

"Thank you so much," I said, grabbing the bags.

"You're welcome, have a great day and… hopefully, you find out what's going on, I hope she's alright."

"I'm sure she's fine, thanks. Have a great day too."

Sage and I headed back to the car with the bags and I put them on the passenger's side. My phone began ringing and I saw it was from Cas. I answered it quickly.

"Hey, is everything okay?" I asked.

"Yeah, kind of, no. Uh, Rodney's just really upset right now. He just started crying and asking where his mom is?"

"Shit, okay, we'll be there soon."

"Alright, please."

"I promise I'll be there as soon as I can, okay? Bye."

"Bye."

I hung up and started up the car while Sage seemed concerned.

"Is everything okay?" she asked.

"Yeah, Rodney is just a little upset right now and wants us back is all."

"Oh. I'm sorry."

"For what, kiddo?"

She fell silent for a moment, "Can we play music?"

"Uh, sure," I said, turning on the radio, "You know though if you ever need to talk about something, you can tell me, right? I understand that there are some things you might be scared to share because of how people might react, but I can assure you it'll be alright."

She stayed quiet and so I changed the subject, "So are you excited for school to start?"

"No. Are you?"

"Honestly? Not at all. I'm just ready for it to be over instead."

"Why do we even have to go to school?"

"Because it's important, we have to learn about a lot."

"But why? Why can't we just learn basic stuff and then leave? Why do we have to go for so long?"

"Because there's a lot we need to know, especially for the many fields out there for jobs, they have to cover all bases."

"Well, what if I don't want a job? Why do I still have to go? How am I gonna need to know science if I'm at home?"

"You don't want to become anything, why?"

"'Cause I want to be a stay-at-home mom, duh."

"You don't have to be that, Sage. You can be anything out there, you could even be president!"

"I don't think I'd become president. But, yeah, I know I can be anything! But I don't want to! I want to be able to stay at home."

"Well, then how are you going to make money, hm?"

"Hmm… My wife can become president! And then I'd be her first lady!"

"The first lady has to do stuff too, Sage. And what if your wife doesn't want to be anything either? You should at least pick up on something you could turn into a money-making thing if it came to it."

"Okay, fine, what do you want to be?"

"This isn't about me, Sage."

"What's your job going to be once you leave school, huh? You're not gonna just babysit forever are you?"

I sighed heavily, was I really being called out by a child, "I mean, I'm probably just going to write, I kind of want to go to college to major in English."

"You're gonna go to college to learn English? You already know it! What else is there to learn?"

"No, Sage, it's-"

"It's so dumb! And don't you have to pay to go? My mom said she's still paying from when she went! And to learn something you already speak?!"

"No, Sage, it's more so about the literature that has been written in the past and what we gain from it. As well as how to write well, as I want to be a published author."

"Oh."

I pulled into the parking lot of the mall and parked, gathering up all the food we had gotten. Sage offered to help me carry everything in as we made our trek back to the mall and to where I figured everyone else was, which would be the food court. Sure enough, they were all sitting at a table, Bella and Dylan were playing something that I guessed was on Cas's phone, while Cas was sitting next to Rodney, talking to him while he was still visibly upset.

"Hey guys, we're back," I said as we set the food down on the table.

"Finally, you guys took forever!" Dylan exclaimed. 

"We weren't gone that long," Sage replied, sitting down at the table. 

I pulled everyone's food out, setting it down in front of them, "Yeah it really wasn't that long."

"Kinda long," Rodney mumbled. 

I looked at him as I sat down, "I'm sorry, I tried to get back as fast as I could. What happened?"

"Nothing," he mumbled. 

I looked to Cas for an answer.

"I really don't know, he just saw something and got set off, sorry."

"What did you see buddy?" I asked Rodney.

"Her," is all he said. 

"Her?" Sage asked. 

He nodded, not explaining more as he stared down at the table, fiddling with the fork in front of him. 

"What do you mean by her? Who's her?" I asked.

Tears were forming in his eyes, "The… the lady."

"Oh. Oh, honey, she's not here, she's never going to be here. She's in jail, she's never going to be anywhere near you again."

"But, what if she gets out?"

"Why would she be in Florida? Especially in our town."

"To get to me! She could find me!"

"She's not going to."

"How do you know for sure?!"

"I just, I just do, okay? I promise you, you're safe here."

He went silent as he kept crying and shaking in his seat. I kept trying to reassure him that everything would be fine and he was very slowly calming down. Soon enough he was calm enough to eat what we had gotten and I started eating as well.

Once we were all finished, we walked around the mall a bit for Cas and me to pick up some things for ourselves. 

"Oh, I could get myself some pins for my backpack," Cas said, gesturing to Hot Topic. 

"What, like pins that say 'smol gay' and 'I can't even think straight?'"

"Know what, I'm disowning you as my friend."

"Because I'm right, that's what you would put on your bag."

"Uh, actually, I think you're the one who would, seeing as you called a certain two YouTubers 'tall beans.'"

"We do not discuss that."

"Okay, Phannie."

I glared at them, "Shut up and go get your pins."

They headed inside of Hot Topic while I stayed outside with the kids, knowing it would be hell trying to get them both in and out of the store.

"What were you guys talking about?" Sage asked.

"Nothing, Sage, nothing at all."

"What's a Phannie?"

"Nothing."

"You seemed upset when they called you it, is it a bad word?"

"No, it's just... It's the name of fans of two YouTubers the two of us watch, that's all."

"Then why did you seem upset?"

"It's a joke, that's all."

"But you seemed upset. Just 'cause it's a joke doesn't mean it's okay."

I slightly smiled at that, "You know, you are right about that. Where'd you learn that from?"

"My dad taught me it 'cause I was making jokes and he told me they were mean. That just 'cause I said it was a joke didn't mean I could say 'em."

I nodded, "You're right, just because something's a joke doesn't mean you can say it. If it offends people, it's wrong. But, in this case, Cas and I are fine with it, we're upset as a joke. If I told them to seriously stop, then they would, and the same if they told me to stop. It's fine, trust me. Thank you for being concerned though, it's good to call out behavior like that."

Cas came back out with a bag in hand, "There really wasn't much to look at in there, to be honest. Hot Topic is going downhill, sorry to say."

"It's not like it used to be, that's for sure."

We continued on to a few more shops when the kids were growing restless from all the walking and were complaining most of the time. We decided it was for the best if we wrapped up, heading to the toy store from earlier. The kids ran off to different parts of the store as soon as we entered the store.

"And off they go," I commented, shaking my head, "What is it about these toys that make kids go wild? Like, look, they have a dog who's only purpose is to 'use the bathroom' and for the kid to clean it up, who thought of this?"

Cas shook their head, "I don't know." 

We split up to find the kids and see what they were finding. I found Dylan and Sage together, looking at the tiaras once again, discussing which would be best for them. 

"I should have the prettier one because I'm the oldest, obviously. I'll be the queen if anything happens to our parents, like Elsa!" Sage explained to Dylan, nonchalantly. 

I stood there in shock for a moment, "What, you're doing to run away from your kingdom and make an entirely new castle out of ice and sing a dramatic song?"

She turned to look at me, "Well, no, I wouldn't run off like her, that was kind of dumb."

"Alright, fair enough, I guess."

I helped them pick out the tiaras they wanted, of course with Sage getting one that was "prettier" as she put it. They also insisted on getting those wands ("for me to order people around with!" and "To do magic!" as Sage and Dylan explained respectively) so we picked out two and threw them in a basket I had picked up. We went to find Cas, Bella, and Rodney after we looked at everything else they wanted to look at. 

"Bella, I am telling you, you want the yellow one, it has way more pieces than this one. This one is a set, there are only LEGOs for this set. You cannot make your own structures with it, like you can with the yellow box," Cas explained, gesturing to the LEGO sets. 

"Want!" Bella exclaimed, pointing to a LEGO set for something I could not recognize. 

Rodney was standing a few feet away from them, just staring off into the distance as if he didn't want to be included in what was going on. Sage looked at the sets the two were arguing about and spoke up.

"Bells, the yellow one has over four hundred pieces, the other one has two hundred and it's not what's on the box, it's just the jet, and it costs more. The yellow one will make the jet and more."

"Really?" Bella asked.

Sage nodded, "Yup."

Bella pointed to the yellow one enthusiastically. Cas sighed in relief and grabbed it, putting it in the basket.

"Kids be wild," Cas mumbled.

"Surely are."

I looked to Rodney, who was staring off into the distance, "You alright?"

He looked at me, giving me a small nod, a tired look in his eyes.

"Did you want to get anything?" Cas asked him. 

Rodney looked at the baskets that had a ton of toys in them already and shook his head, "'m okay."

"Are you sure?" I asked.

He nodded, "Got a lot already. Don't need to get me anything."

"Do you want anything?"

He gave me a shrug. 

"Alright, I guess we'll go check out then."

We headed to the checkout counter together, until Sage spotted something and stopped.

"Rodney, look!" she exclaimed, grabbing his hand to stop him, "Didn't you say you wanted this?"

I stopped to look at what they were looking at, which was a thing of three different colored kinetic sand, blue, green, and tan. Rodney shook his head, a frown crossing his face. 

"But you said you wanted it earlier when I showed you a video. Why don't you want it now?"

"Lotta money," he mumbled. 

I could see Sage get a similar look across her face, "Oh. Yeah, you're right."

"Hey, I can buy it, it's no big deal," I said as I grabbed the box, "money isn't an issue right now, I have enough for this stuff, I can use my money instead of your guys if you're worried about that."

"Yeah, I dunno how much we have," Sage said.

"Alright, I'll just use my money."

"Are you sure?" Rodney asked, looking at me, "you don't have to get it."

"Yes, I'm sure, buddy."

We began heading towards the checkout counter again, putting the stuff up on the belt. 

"Thank you for joining us Cas, sorry we kind of made you unable to look at much."

"Nah, it's fine, I like hanging out with you, and these kiddos, they're pretty interesting to be around. Since I just came here to get out of the house and kill time like I said, it's boring sitting around."

"Oh yeah, so boring living in a development with a clubhouse and a pool," I said, smirking. 

Cas glared at me, "Every time I go to the pool, the old ladies stare at me as if I'm not supposed to be there. Take a guess why that is, may I mention, they're old white ladies in their fifties or sixties."

"I… I'm just going to shut up for the rest of my life."

Cas gave me a thumbs up, "Good idea buddy."

We finished checking out and I quickly paid for the toys. We gathered up the bags and carried them out of the store. 

"I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking about that at all," I apologized as we were heading towards the parking lot. 

"I do, every day, so," Cas responded. 

"I know."

"And think, if you-know-who becomes president, how much worse it'll get."

"Yup. I'm terrified and I can't do anything about it because I turn 18 a month after the election, so."

"Adam and I can, but how much is our vote really going to change things?"

"You better vote, we can't have him." 

"Oh, you bet I will. If at the very least I can vote for other positions who might keep him in check if he does win. My parents are making me go vote with them anyway, they made me register the day I turned 18."

"I have to make sure Adam is." 

We got out to the car and we put the bags into the back, excluding of course Cas's bags, as the kids climbed into their seats. 

"Do you need a ride home?" I asked Cas. 

"Nah, my parents are going to pick me up sometime soon." 

"Alright. Thank you for joining us then. Talk to you later, stay safe." 

"Same to you." 

They headed back towards the mall as I got into the driver's seat and headed back to Rodney's.

About an hour later, we were home and had finished putting everything away when Rodney's adult mindset came back. I was in the middle of trying to find my charger when I heard him curse before exclaiming my name. 

"In the back-room!" I shouted back.

He came into the room, "Flynn, please tell me I didn't have a meltdown in a very public place, please."

"Uh, well, I cannot say that because…"

Rodney screamed into his hands, "This is why I hate this and push it away! Do you know how many people probably saw me and was weirded out by my behaviors alone? But then I have a meltdown? And your friend! Your friend saw me! Not only that but all the people at the party a few weeks ago saw me regress, right? I'm going to have to face them again one day and they're going to ask so many questions! And Elizabeth's gonna hear about it, and oh my god, she's going to find out and-"

"Rodney," I said, walking over to him, putting my hand just hovering over his shoulder, "breathe. Okay? Can I touch you?"

He nodded, shutting his mouth tight as I put my hand on his shoulder. 

"It's okay, Cas didn't mind it and nobody at the mall is even going to remember anything. Nobody really cared. It's okay. You're just a kid when that stuff happens-"

"But I don't look like one! People probably think that I… I… I don't know, belong somewhere locked up!"

"Rodney. Nobody thinks that. You literally just looked like someone who has more intensified emotions, like excitement. Someone would have to spend time with you to pick up on the fact your childlike behavior is due to your mind being that of a child's. As for your so-called meltdown, all you were doing was crying. Strangers only care if you're completely alone, otherwise, they don't care."

"I don't like this," Rodney mumbled, "any of it. I don't want you guys taking me into public when shit like this happens."

"I am not going to completely avoid taking you out into public, especially when most of the time I'm watching your kids. I cannot have them stuck inside all the time, dude."

"Fine, then don't let me be so… visible. I don't want people judging me or… certain people finding out, okay? Can you do that for me? Make sure Elizabeth doesn't- You went to her work! Flynn!"

"What?"

"She's going to ask why I didn't come with you and Sage!"

"Rodney it's not a big-"

"Oh my fucking God, she's going to get so hard on my case. What if she tried calling me? Holy fuck, Flynn, what the fuck!"

"Hey, it's not-"

"It is a big deal! She already got on my case about how I need to do better, even if you guys are around, I cannot have her on my-"

"Rodney! She wasn't fucking there!"

Rodney stopped and stared at me, "What do you mean?"

Shit.

"She… she wasn't there. She… went to uh… where's the other store again, not the one near us but?"

"Uh, Wellington?"

"Yes! Wellington! She had to go pick something up, that's what the employee told me anyways. So she has no clue we were there, and probably the employee will forget by the time she gets back that we were even there. And even if she asks, you just say you stayed in the car."

"Okay," he said, nodding, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry I went off on you, I'm just scared of her finding out."

"She won't. I promise. I'll do my best to make sure."

"Thank you."

He left the room as I pondered why I had just covered for Elizabeth and lied straight to Rodney's face about what I had found out so far. I really hoped at that moment what was going on wasn't what I thought was going on.

  
  
  



	6. Youth

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Arguing as per usual, death mention, syringes, food mention, dissociating, as well as references to previous themes.

Once school had started, our schedules got a bit mixed around. Elizabeth's hours at work changed to where she would instead work until six on the weekdays which corresponded with aftercare and after-school activities that the kids did. She made up the hours she missed during the week by working all day on the weekends supposedly. Meanwhile, I was supposed to get out early since I only had three classes a day instead of four, but Adam had convinced me to join the GSA. On top of that, Bryan was always staying after to either help out his Graphic Design teacher or work on his projects and he'd most of the time rope me into staying as well. 

I had tried telling both of them I could not join in by using the excuse of having to help out with Rodney, but he quickly shot that excuse down when he overheard me, insisting he would be fine and that I should join them since 'it's only a few hours'. However, lo and behold, a mere few weeks into the school year, I realized I was quite right to worry about him and want those hours in case something happened. 

Bryan and I were sitting in class together, him trying to convince me to join him, "I don't want to go alone!"

"Then don't go at all, I'm not going, that's final," I said as I shoved my stuff into my bag.

"Please!" he begged as the bell rang, "I'll pay you!"

"No!" I said as I got up and headed out of the classroom.

He caught up to me, "Flynn, c'mon, please!"

My phone began ringing and I sighed, "Pause your whine for a moment, please."

I answered my phone, "Hello?"

"Hello, is this Flynn?" an unrecognizable voice asked.

"Uh, yes? Who is this?"

"This is Robert, I work with Rodney. I couldn't get ahold of his cousin, Adam, but I found your number and he said I could call you. He's… He's having an episode right now and he says he wants to go home with you guys."

"Oh, shit, yeah, Adam left his phone at home. Uh, we'll be by soon, thank you for letting me know."

"You're welcome, see you soon, hopefully."

I hung up and stared at Bryan, "I have to go now, are you going to come with?"

"What's going on?" Bryan asked, looking very concerned.

"Rodney regressed while at work, we need to go pick him up. Meaning I need to find Adam before he leaves, and it's not like I can call him if his phone's at home."

"Yeah, I'll come with."

"Okay, well, we need to hurry."

We rushed off towards the front office, both of us grabbing our IDs out of wallets and showing them to the lady at the front office clerk. She nodded as she marked us down as leaving and gestured for us to leave. We ran off towards the parking lot and spotted Adam's car. He was thankfully still there, fiddling with the radio. 

"Hey babe," I said as I opened the passenger door, throwing my bag into the back as Bryan got into the back. 

"Do you know how to make this work- Oh hey Bryan, not staying after?" Adam asked, looking at Bryan.

"No, Flynn's forced me to join."

"I didn't force you- whatever, we need to go pick up Rodney from work- what do you mean do I know how to work the radio?"

"I can't get it to play music," he answered, still fiddling with buttons.

I reached over, switched the channels on it, and turned it up, "Adam, you are what boomers make fun of us for."

"I… I never use it, okay? I play music off my phone like everyone else."

I shook my head, "Whatever, we have to get to Rodney's work."

"What's wrong?" he asked as he started pulling out of the parking spot.

"He just regressed while at work, that's all."

"Why would he… What's today?"

"August 31st."

Adam sighed, "I forgot his birthday, oh my God."

"How do you forget your cousin's birthday?" Bryan asked. 

"Know what, first of all, I didn't realize today was the 31st, I thought it was like the 22nd or something. Secondly, not all of us share a birthday with our family member so it's easy to remember because it's also ours."

"I remember my parents pretty well. I even remember yours and your brother's."

"Of course you remember Harry's," Adam mumbled. 

"I heard that!"

The ride there was not very pleasant, as the two had begun to argue the entire way there.

"I'm just saying, they're obviously evil! I don't care how neglected they were, which is like up for debate, you don't murder!" Adam exclaimed as he pulled into the parking lot of Rodney's work. 

I jumped out of the car once it was parked and rushed inside, just so I didn't have to hear them anymore. As I entered, a man was sitting down with Rodney, who was doing something on his phone. 

"Oh, hey," Robert said, noticing me and nudging Rodney, "Look who's here."

Rodney looked up and jumped out of his chair, coming over to me. 

"Hey, bud, what's up?" I asked. 

"'on't wanna be here," he mumbled.

"Well, yeah, I bet. Today's your birthday, isn't it?"

He nodded silently. I noticed his face was stained from tears and that he was wearing a red jacket that was clearly not his, as it wasn't his size.

"Well, lucky for you, we're here to take you home and we're going to celebrate."

"Where's Adam?" 

"Still in the car, I think. He's arguing with Bry about some game."

"Oh," he turned to Robert, "Bye."

"Bye kid, happy birthday."

Rodney stood there awkwardly for a moment, fiddling with the bottom of the jacket he was wearing. 

"What's wrong?" both of us asked. 

He wrapped his arms around himself, looking at Robert. Robert looked at him kind of confused for a moment before it looked like it clicked for him. 

"You want a hug?" Robert asked. 

Rodney nodded shyly. 

"You don't have to ask for one, dude, we've been friends for years now," Robert said, hugging him, "since, you're already wearing my jacket."

"Danke," Rodney mumbled. 

"De rien, petit frère" Robert responded as he let go of him, "have a good night, okay? I'll see you, well, y'know, on Friday, unless something comes up, right?"

Rodney nodded, "Want jacket back?"

"Nah, you can keep it."

"Okay," Rodney headed towards the door.

"Was that french?" I asked Robert, as soon as I processed what he had said. 

"Yes, it's French for 'no problem, little brother' basically."

"You speak French?"

"I took two years of it in high school because I was so convinced I'd never use Spanish. Well, I regret that decision."

"Ooh, I understand that. I took two years of Graphic Design, mostly because my brother roped me into it. I have certifications in things I'll never use."

Robert shook his head, "High school's like that, you take a lot of meaningless classes. Well, good luck, make sure he has a good birthday, alright? If he comes back and tells me he has a single bad memory somehow from it, I'll have a talk, alright?"

"Alright, I'll try my best."

I went back to the car and clearly stepped back in during another argument of Adam and Bryan's, while Rodney was sitting in the back, curled up in himself. 

"Stop pestering him, Bryan! Don't try and ship him with his coworker when he's like this, he's a child, that's… eh. Adult Rodney is married and child Rodney shouldn't be involved with anyone in that way."

"I'm just messing around, I know," Bryan huffed out, crossing his arms. 

"Can we stop the arguing, please? And figure out what we are going to do for Rodney's birthday instead?" I suggested.

"Yes, let's. What should we do?" Adam asked. 

"We could go to the beach," Bryan suggested.

"Oh, please don't get Adam started on beaches-" I started to say before Adam went on a tangent. 

"Too late, I don't see why beaches are so goddamn popular! Like, who looked at a beach and went 'wow you guys, you know what, this right here? Party central! Let's ruin it!' Like what? Like they see water and sand and it's time to pop open a beer and freak out! Then let's throw that in the ocean because that's smart!"

"See what you've started?" I asked Bryan.

For the next thirty minutes of the ride, he complained about beaches, about politics, about our own community, and so on. I ended up shoving my headphones in to drown it out.

"So what are we going to do?" I asked once Adam's rant was over and I pulled my headphones out.

"We could just get something to eat, I think they're doing some kind of food truck thing tonight. My friends said they're going, maybe I'll run into them," Bryan suggested.

"Alright, sounds good enough."

We stopped by my place for Bryan and me to drop off our stuff and get changed into different clothes while Adam and Rodney headed over to his place. I ended up just changing my shirt to a plain black t-shirt while Bryan put on a whole new outfit. 

"You just traded in a button-up and jeans for another button-up and jeans," I pointed out.

"Yes, but, my jeans have holes and my shirt has flowers, so it's shit I can't wear to school."

I rolled my eyes and headed over to Rodney's, seeing they were waiting on the porch. Rodney had changed his shirt as well but kept the jacket, just with the sleeves rolled up. Bryan came out as well and we headed back to the car, Adam driving us towards downtown. 

"We should get Kilwins," Bryan suggested. 

"Isn't the point of Food Truck Invasion to eat from the food trucks?" Adam asked.

"Yes, but is there a shake truck? I think not."

"Uh, there is," I corrected.

"Not as good as Kilwins, therefore, I am getting Kilwins, screw y'all."

I rolled my eyes unsure of why I was surprised by his behavior at this point in my life. We arrived and Adam parked the car, and Bryan got out and headed straight towards Kilwins. 

"Bry's weird," Rodney commented as we got out as well.

"Yeah, yeah he is bud. So, what are you in the mood for?"

"Uh, spaghetti!"

"Okay, well, I'm sure they have an Italian food truck around here, so."

"I see one," Adam said, pointing to a truck that was across the field.

"Alright, we have a walk ahead of us and a huge crowd to get through," I said. 

Rodney looked at me and linked his arm in mine. Adam noticed it and linked his arm with Rodney's other arm as we all started walking towards the truck. I noticed Rodney start to hum something and I smiled. 

"What're you guys gonna get?" he asked us. 

"Uh, probably spaghetti as well, to be honest," I said. 

"I'm going to go to the truck next to it and get a hot dog," Adam answered, "and maybe a brownie which I might share with a certain someone since they're big."

"Who?" Rodney asked.

"Uh, the birthday boy, duh."

Rodney smiled widely, "Really?"

Adam nodded, "Of course."

"Thank you!" 

Adam smiled as well, "You're welcome, bud."

We got to the truck and I started ordering for Rodney and me while Adam went to the other truck to order. We got our food fairly quickly after ordering and went to go sit down. Just as we started eating, Bryan came over with a dark-skinned girl following him. Both of them had milkshakes in their hands. 

"I found you guys," Bryan said as he pulled out two chairs from the table, one for the girl and one for himself, "this is my friend, Alisha. She's the only friend I managed to find here."

"That's because I'm his only friend," she said, smirking. 

"So not true," he mumbled. 

I chuckled and put my hand out for her to shake, "Nice to meet you, Alisha. This is my boyfriend, Adam, and his cousin, Rodney."

Adam waved, "Sup."

Rodney gave a shy wave to her. 

"Oh, and I may have gotten something for the birthday boy," Bryan said, holding up a small bag, "but only after you finish your food, of course, kiddo."

Alisha looked at Bryan, very confused before looking at Rodney for a moment. 

"Okay Bry," Rodney replied, continuing to eat. 

Bryan noticed her stare redirected back to him and looked at her, "Yea?"

"I just… kiddo?" she asked in a sort of whisper.

The color from Bryan's face drained, "Uh, it's a, uh… Inside joke, you know, 'cause he looks younger than me, he's shorter and all. It's just, yeah, a joke."

"You sound as flustered as you did talking about your 'friend,'" she pointed out.

Bryan scoffed, "I'm not flustered, and I wasn't then."

"Sure. Whatever you say."

Adam sighed, "It's not an inside joke but it's… it's a long story, kind of. He, uh, he's mentally a child due to… stuff that happened as a kid. I'd rather not go into specifics right now, since. He's right here."

"Wait, really?" she asked, looking at Adam. 

The look on her face was not one of disgust, confusion, or anything negative. It was more like disbelief mixed with relief. 

"You don't mean like… you know, what some people online do?"

"No, no, no. It's involuntary and he experiences amnesia between his mindsets, so he doesn't remember a whole lot from either mindset, just very basic stuff. And trust me, adult him knows about that stuff online and it makes him not want this to happen, so."

"Holy… I cannot believe this, uh. I have a- well… had a friend who dealt with… that. He always complained about how people treated him and thought it was like the stuff online. Especially because there was such a huge disconnect between his body and his age mentally when he was triggered. He… he always told me he wished when he was like that, he could just look like a kid, so people weren't as rude."

"What happened?" I asked. 

Adam elbowed me and I realized I shouldn't have asked that as it was obvious. Alisha bit her lip, staring at the ground. 

"Oh, that friend," Bryan asked, softly. 

She gave him a nod, "Yeah. That friend. Uh, well, what he didn't know before he… I started working on something that can actually do what he asked for. I didn't finish it in time, and I was about to give up hope on ever completing it perfectly like it has just a few things to work out, but."

She looked at us, "I know this sounds crazy and out of nowhere, I just met you guys but. I think that… maybe I can make it so he can look like a kid when this happens. That way he can kind of accept it as a coping mechanism? I… I would love to be able to help, if he wants me to. I just… I should've told Ash what I was doing and I didn't and now…"

I was taken aback, unable to believe what I was hearing. I could just keep thinking 'there's no way this was real.'

"So what… what would it do?" Adam asked. 

"When his mentality drops, his body will regress to a younger state, so he regresses to what age?"

"Three."

"He'd look three years old. And then when it goes back to his normal age, his body reverts to how it was. I have proof of it working, to an extent. I've never had anyone who actually deals with it try it, I just, well, tried it on my grandfather, to let him have a day of being around twenty again, before he passes away. And… myself."

"You tested it on yourself?" Bryan asked, "Ali, you could've gotten stuck like that!"

"I know, I know. But, look, I just need to make sure it'll work how it'll need to be done for him. If you want me to."

"We'll… we'll think about it," I said.

"Flynn," Adam exclaimed, looking over at me.

"Look, is that not the issue with this for him? He doesn't like that he's like this looking like he does. If this works as she says, wouldn't it be perfect?"

Adam sighed, "We'll think about it, okay?"

She nodded, "I'll get started as soon as I can on perfecting it and you guys can take as long as you need to decide, discuss it with him, all that."

"Still can't believe you tested it on yourself," Bryan mumbled.

"Well, I'm sorry, do you know anyone for me to test it on?" Alisha asked.

"Still! Does your girlfriend know you did that?"

"No, Jayla doesn't know and doesn't need to."

Bryan sighed, "Of course. Whatever, I need some actual food, want to come with and get some?"

She nodded as they both got up.

"We'll be right back," Bryan said to us. 

They headed off towards the trucks together as Adam nudged me, "Do you honestly think she's serious?"

"Yeah, of course," I said, looking at him as he stared at me in disbelief. 

"You think it'll actually work?"

"Maybe, we can get proof."

Adam shook his head, "I don't know."

Rodney nudged him, "Adam? Brownie?"

Adam grabbed the brownie and split it up for him, giving him half, "Happy birthday, kiddo."

"Thank you," Rodney said as he started eating the brownie. 

Adam glared at me, "We'll continue this discussion when we're able to, with him. We're not jumping into this, okay?"

"Aye aye, captain."

Bryan and Alisha came back shortly, both carrying a ton of food in their hands. 

"What, did you buy something from every truck?" I asked.

"Gotta soak up the variety, dear brother of mine," Bryan said as he set the food down. 

"Bry!" Rodney exclaimed, "Present?"

"Ah, yes, thank you for reminding me," Bryan said as he dug into his pocket, pulling out a plastic bag and opening it to pull out a candy bar, "Here you go, it's a chocolate crisp bar."

He handed it off to Rodney.

"Danke Bry!" Rodney exclaimed, smiling so wide, "Look, Adam!"

Adam nodded, "Even more chocolate, yeah. That's some good chocolate though."

"Can I have some now?"

"Sure, why not, it is your birthday."

Rodney grinned and ripped open the packaging, starting to take small pieces of it. The rest of us couldn't help but smile as well at how happy he seemed to just have some chocolate. 

Adam, Bryan, Alisha, and I ended up chatting about our lives, how school was going, and so on while Bryan and Alisha ate their food. Rodney ended up playing games on his phone while we were chatting. 

"... so yeah, that's why I hate Mrs. Coy with a burning passion," Adam explained. 

"Adam?" Rodney spoke up out of nowhere.

"Yeah?" Adam asked, looking at Rodney, "Oh. Hey."

"What time is it?"

"It's almost four," I answered, looking down the table at Rodney, noticing that he looked very confused.

"I… I can't remember anything from today. At all. Why… why am I here now, what just happened?"

Adam shrugged, "I'm not sure. You don't even remember waking up?"

"No. Did I stay home today?"

"No, you went to work, we had to pick you up though. So we came here to get some food and we've just been chatting is all."

Rodney shook his head, "I feel… very off still."

He noticed Alisha and sighed, "Great, more people know about this shit. Hello, another friend of theirs, sorry about what you probably had to encounter."

"No, it's fine, actually. I'm Alisha," she said, putting her hand for them to shake hands, "I had a friend who uh, had the same thing happen to him. Actually."

She gave Adam and me a look, "Can I fill him in on the idea?"

"Go ahead," I said, "it is up to him, and this way he can ask anything he needs to."

She nodded, "I have been working on something, as crazy as it sounds, that might make you feel more at ease when this happens to you. It will make your physical state look like a child, so that when you regress, you aren't perceived as an adult. I know for my friend, he hated it because there was a huge weird feeling during it and then after because people judged him badly for it."

Rodney stared at her before letting out a chuckle, "Great joke you guys, you know, real original. Uh, next time, maybe don't make a joke out of this shit though, uh. Just a tad bit insensitive."

"She's being serious, Rodney," Bryan said.

"Jokes over, Bry, I know it's one," Rodney said, rolling his eyes.

"No, I'm serious," Alisha said, "I know, it sounds impossible but. I promise you it works, I've tested it before, and it works. I was making it for my friend but. He… he passed away before I could give it to him. I had just a few more things to do and… I'm serious though, it exists. I can prove to you guys that it works. I'll just have to finish it up and we can use it on you."

He still looked very uncertain on how to take what she was saying before letting out a sigh and dropping his shoulders, "You're not fucking with me? You're actually serious that this is a thing?"

"Yes! I'm very serious."

"Why? Like, why do you want to do this for me, to finish it just for me? I mean, the person you wanted to use it for is… And I'm very sorry about that, by the way, but. I'm nobody. Why go through the effort?"

"Because I couldn't be there for him, the least I can do is be there for someone else. And, because clearly, Bryan cares about you, as well as his brother. That's enough for me to want to. I don't want them losing you because of similar stuff."

Tears were forming in Rodney's eyes, "I… Okay, prove to me it works. And I'll… consider it. There's a lot to think about, I mean. A lot, this is literally life-changing."

She nodded, "All I ask is you consider it. I'll get you proof, any proof you need. We'll figure out how to make it work for you, I promise."

"Alright, okay."

She smiled widely, "I promise you it'll work though."

Rodney nodded and then looked at Adam and me, "Anyways, I need to get home soon, Elizabeth and I are supposed to be going out for dinner tonight, unless she cancels that is. Fuck, you guys aren't going to be busy tonight are you? I should've made sure, clearly, you're hanging out right now so maybe you do, fuck-"

Adam interrupted him, "Hey, it's okay. No, we're not busy. We came here just to get some food, that's all. We can watch the kids."

"Hey, I'm busy," Bryan said.

"Nobody asked you," Adam said, rolling his eyes, "and with what, kissing my brother?"

"It was not a kiss!"

"What?" I asked, opening my eyes wide open, "What did I miss?"

"I walked in on them-"

"We were not kissing!"

"Oh yeah, doing mouth-to-mouth obviously, while 'watching' a movie."

Rodney snickered, "Oh yeah, I did a lot of mouth-to-mouth when I was younger."

"I know you did, I walked in on that shit," Adam said. 

"Oh, thank God my girlfriend doesn't have siblings, they'd see some stuff," Alisha said.

Rodney nodded, "No matter where we went there was always someone. At my house, my two younger siblings, at his house it was his older sister and parents, and even at a friend's house, yeah, it was his younger sister or parents. Which is even more awkward."

Bryan buried his face into his hands, "This is mortifying. I do not want to hear about your gay adventures."

"Sorry, that's what you signed up for when you became my friend," Alisha said. 

"And for involving yourself in my bullshit," Rodney added.

"I'm putting in my two-second notice to both of y'all, I am no longer your friend. Adios!"

Adam smirked, "Yeah, thankfully nobody's walked in on Flynn and me."

"Can't walk in on something that doesn't happen," Rodney mumbled. 

I looked at him, "Is that what you guys were insinuating?"

"Oh, not in my instance, no. That never happened. I was just making that joke because you two really seem like the type to wait for marriage."

"Or, never, y'know. I'm asexual."

"You reproduce on your own?" Rodney asked, a slight smirk crossing his face that he was trying to hide. 

"Fuck off."

"No, you got it wrong, he only does it with people who have an A at the start of their name. That's why he's with Adam," Bryan explained. 

I glared at him, "This is why mom and dad hate you."

"Jokes on you, they hate us both."

"Anybody could take a look at you two and realize that," Alisha said.

Bryan's eyes widened as he turned his attention to her, "What?"

"Well, you dress as if you came straight out of a mix of a Hot Topic ad and a Phandom meet-up. Also, you look so obviously bi with the rolled-up jeans and button-up, oh my God. Given the fact you don't dress like this in school shows that you have a reputation to hold up and your parents wouldn't approve. Then, Flynn never has any defining style besides his hair, it's clear he just wants to blend in because at home he's the odd one out. But the hair screams 'I need to be in control of one thing in my life' because your parents hate individuality." 

I sat there in shock as she just called us out.

"What about me?" Adam asked.

Alisha stared at him, "You give me the vibe of you're trying your hardest to not be a stereotype, not because you come from bad parents, but because you're worried how it'll make you and your family look. I can tell that you don't come from a bad family, but… Maybe a bad place instead. You and your brother are from Georgia, right?"

"Yeah."

"Yeah, that's what I'm picking up from you. You have the same outfit kind of as your boyfriend, plain jeans, a t-shirt, admittedly a school spirit shirt, but you also have a necklace with a rainbow heart on it which you had hidden until you realized I had a girlfriend."

"I… I wasn't actually expecting to get called out, or that I'd be able to tell you that you're wrong but…"

Rodney sighed and leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms, "Okay, I'll bite, what about me? What can you pick up from me?"

"Oh, honey, that's easy," she said, straightening up and smirking as she rested one of her elbows on the table, resting her head on her hand, "Where do I start? I mean, clearly, that jacket is not yours. It's not your size whatsoever. But, it's not your wife's, no."

Rodney interrupted, "It's just my co-workers, it gets cold as hell in that place and so my younger self was probably just cold and Robert offered it up."

"You don't want to admit your feelings towards men, even though you did date one, right? And, it seems to me you're not so interested in your wife. There's tension. A lot of it too. You're always really nervous and panic easily, and she cancels a lot on you, she's never there for you or your kids, huh? But you've convinced yourself you have to like her, you have to like women. But the way you hold yourself is screaming you're really not happy, and it might just be towards her, or it may be towards more than that."

Rodney had an indescribable look across his face before he rolled his eyes and huffed, "Bullshit. I love her, that's why I married her. And yes, I had a boyfriend, shit didn't work out though. That's life. She works a job that's not that stable with hours, so no she isn't always around. Most of her employees are seniors in high school or college students, so there's always shit going on that she has to take care of. We're fine."

Alisha put her hands up, "Alright, you don't have to get so defensive. It's just my thought on how I perceive you dude, from what you've said and how you act. I've just seen it a lot before."

"Whatever, I need to get home and get ready, thank you for the suggestion, I'll think about it."

He got up and walked off, leaving us behind.

"He's not usually like that, uh, I'm sorry," Adam apologized to Alisha. 

"It's fine, I get it. I was calling him out way too hard there. I wouldn't want to hear the truth either, to be honest."

"Yeah, I guess. Alright, well, we'll see you around, hopefully, we can get on board with this idea of yours."

"It's going to take a lot of convincing for Rodney, but hopefully he'll come around," I commented. 

Lo and behold, weeks later, she had convinced us that it worked and Rodney got on board with the idea. Well, kind of onboard.

"What if it doesn't work?" Rodney asked as he and I were getting out of the car.

"It'll work," I reassured him.

"And if it doesn't?"

"It will."

"Why are we doing this?"

I sighed and looked at him, "Rodney, you had no issue with this earlier."

"I know, but! God, what if everything just gets more fucked up!"

I put my hand on his shoulder, "It'll be fine."

We walked up to the door and knocked on the door. Alisha answered it and greeted us. 

"Are you ready?" she asked Rodney. 

Rodney shrugged, "As I'll ever be. You sure this will work?"

She nodded, "Of course. I wouldn't suggest it if it didn't work. I know for sure it'll work."

He sighed, "Okay."

We walked inside and she led us to one of the rooms which looked like a mixture of a therapist's office and a typical doctor's office. It had a desk in it, facing a couch and a chair. There were a few shelves with books and paperwork sitting on them. She grabbed a pair of gloves and put them on, walking around the desk and pulling something out of one of the drawers.

"Wow, this is way more… official than I expected," I said, "like. Professional looking." 

She nodded, "Adam said the same thing when he came by." 

Adam had brought Rodney over a few days before, to discuss any problems that could make it so they couldn't do it, but no problems had been found. 

Rodney sat down on the couch, taking a deep breath. She came over and started prepping so she could give him a shot of her serum. 

"So this is a one-time thing?" I asked. 

"The serum will eventually wear off, maybe a year or so, so you guys will have to check in every so often so I can make sure there are no negative effects. There shouldn't be, of course, but we just want to make sure. Okay?" 

"How often?" Rodney asked. 

"For the first few months, at least weekly. Then maybe less often as time goes on. We will see." 

She grabbed the syringe, "Okay. You ready?" 

He nodded, biting his lip. She began injecting it and I saw his face begin to scrunch up as tears started to form. She pulled the syringe out once it was empty and set it down. 

"How do you feel?" 

He didn't give her an answer, just sat there as tears rolled down his cheeks quietly. I put my hand on his shoulder. 

"Buddy, you okay?" 

The tears began getting more intense and before my eyes, he was beginning to shrink. I removed my hand and took a step back as I watched it happen. He stopped shirking once he looked about three-years-old. His eyes glanced up at me as he reached his arms out. I picked him up and set him on my hip as he buried his face into my shoulder. 

"It actually worked," I said in disbelief as I looked at Alisha.

"Of course it did," she said as she grabbed a band-aid and put it on his arm.

"So, now what?"

"You two are free to go, just keep me in the loop on how it's affecting him, alright? I'll see you guys soon."

"Alright, thank you so much," I said as I dug around in my pocket, pulling out some money, "it's not a lot, but uh, we agreed you deserve it for doing this for him."

She put her hands up, "No, it's fine, I'm not doing it for money. I'm doing it to help."

"Please take it, we want to show our appreciation."

She reluctantly took it from me, "Thank you."

"See you later," I said as I headed out, carrying Rodney.

"Where's everyone?" he mumbled out. 

"Adam took the kids to the mall, they're getting costumes for Halloween and a car seat for you."

"What 'bout Harry and Bry?"

"Hmm, I don't know bud," I said as we got to his house.

"Can they come over?"

I heard a shout from the back of the house as we entered, "They may already be here."

I set him down on the ground, "Stay here, I'll go see what they're doing."

Rodney walked off into the living room, already pulling out some cars and playing with them. I headed to the backroom, noticing that Bryan and Harry were surely there. Bryan had his head resting on Harry's lap, while Harry looked very done with Bryan, trying to get him to get off him. 

"What are you doing here?" I asked, crossing my arms. 

"Can you get your brother off me, please? I just want to go get something to eat," Harry said, looking at me. 

"I'm comfy, I don't want to get up," Bryan responded. 

I shook my head, "I'm not getting involved."

Harry glared at me and then looked down at Bryan, "Ah, I know what will make you get off me."

He leaned down and kissed Bryan, which led to Bryan pushing him away and sitting up quickly. 

"Why would you do that in front of my brother?! I don't want him-" Bryan shouted, throwing his hands over his mouth quickly. 

"Knowing what? That you two are in love?" I said with a smirk. 

Bryan glared at me, "Don't you dare-"

"You two are so cute, I ship it so hard."

"You are a dickhead sometimes," Bryan mumbled. 

Harry got up, ruffling Bryan's hair, "And so are you."

He left the room, presumably heading to the kitchen.

"So, how did it go?" Bryan asked, readjusting his position on the futon to sit properly. 

"It went okay, he looks three now. Oh, he wanted to know where you two were."

"Aw, he loves his uncles."

I tilted my head, "His what?"

"Well, like, you two are kind of becoming his dads, you know. You take care of that side of him all the time. You're his dads."

"Bryan, do not make this like that shit on Tumblr-"

"Uh, it's clearly nothing like that! Jesus Christ, Flynn. I just mean that like, especially now, people are going to think that you two are his dads."

"We're obviously just babysitting. That's all. People aren't going to assume that he's our kid, but the rest of them aren't. And it's clear the rest aren't, I mean."

"But if you go somewhere without them, it will look like he's your kid."

"Whatever Bry."

Bryan smirked, "You only ever say that when I'm right."

"Fuck off."

"Fine, I will if you can beat me at parkour in Minecraft."

"How am I supposed to beat you at it?"

"Either get further or in less time, duh."

"Fine."

"Finally! I tried getting Harry to try out my new course and he refused to," he said as he loaded up the world. 

"I'm sorry, did you build it on this Xbox?"

"Uh, yes, is there a problem with that?"

"I mean, I just, you have your own game at home, so. I don't know, never mind I guess, you do you, my dude."

The game loaded up and he threw me a controller. For the next half hour, we were racing against each other. 

"You cheated! You jumped to a completely different block! You're supposed to hit every block!" 

"I can do whatever I want!"

"Will you play fair for once?!"

There was the sound of a door opening and Harry speaking up, "Can you two not argue for once?"

We glanced over and saw he had a plate with a few brownies on it in his hand.

"Where'd you get brownies?" I asked. 

"We made 'em!" Rodney exclaimed as he smiled widely while standing next to Harry, holding onto his free hand. 

"Oh is that right? They must be pretty good, huh?" I asked. 

"Oh, Thank God you helped Harry out, kiddo. We all know who the better baker is, of course," Bryan said with a smirk.

Harry shook his head, "Babe, you burnt ramen."

"Look, is it my fault I was distracted that I forgot to put water in?"

"It is literally the only step in making ramen."

"What were you distracted by?" I asked with a smirk, adding on with, "'babe.'"

Bryan's entire face burned up, realizing what Harry had called him.

"I didn't mean to say that," Harry said, "and it's really not funny to make fun of him for it."

I shrugged, "It's just cute that's all."

"Whatever," Bryan mumbled, "may I please get a brownie now, Harry? I'm starving."

Harry put the plate down on the coffee table and Bryan and I both grabbed one. 

"Ooh, these are really good, you two did a good job," Bryan commented. 

Rodney grinned at the praise, "Thank you, Bry!" 

"So when is Adam going to get back?" Harry asked as he sat down next to Bryan, Rodney quickly joining us as well. 

"I'm not sure. Probably soon."

At that moment, we heard the commotion from the living room. 

"Or now, I guess."

The kids, and Adam shortly after, burst into the room. 

"Who made brownies?" Dylan exclaimed.

"Adam says we have to ask whoever made them if we can have one," Sage added. 

"Rodney and I did, and yeah of course you guys can. I'll get you guys them," Harry said as he got up, heading out of the room. Dylan and Bella ended up following him but Sage stayed, staring at Rodney. 

"Well, it looks like it worked, huh?" Adam said to me, also looking at Rodney. 

"He's so small," Sage whispered out. 

Rodney looked over at them and waved at Sage, "Hi!"

Sage smiled and waved back before looking at me, her entire expression changing into what looked like pure fear, "Does my mom know?"

"Um, no, she… she doesn't yet, no. Your dad still hasn't mentioned it."

"But… what if she sees him like this?"

Adam knelt down, resting his hand on her shoulder, "Hey, she won't. And… if she does, we'll handle it. She'll just have to learn earlier than Rodney plans to tell her, I guess."

"But… what if she…" 

"What if she does what?"

"I don't want him hurt again."

I got up and walked over to her, kneeling, "What do you mean by that?"

She met my eyes and shook her head, "Just… like, she might be mean about it y'know. Like he said. I don't want her to be mean to him, not like this."

"I'm sure he'll be fine, we'll be here when it happens and we'll keep him safe, okay? He knows if he's starting to feel off to call us, and I live right next door, I can always come by in a hot minute."

"Same," Bryan said, "If he doesn't hear his phone, I will. Or Adam or Harry will call us to go over there if he happens to call them. It'll be okay."

"Yea, Sage! It'll be fine!" Rodney exclaimed with a smile that couldn't help but make Sage smile a little too.

"You're right, it will."

Harry came back in with Bella and Dylan trailing behind. 

"Sage!" Dylan exclaimed, "We gotta show the game!"

"Oh yeah! Adam, can I see your phone?" Sage asked.

Adam handed it to her and before we could process it, she and Dylan were with Rodney, showing him some game on Adam's phone. Bella soon joined them and they were all taking turns playing the game. 

"Well, it seems they don't question what's up, aside from Sage's worries," I said to Adam as we both got back up and went to sit somewhere else since the kids had taken up the couch as Harry had sat back down with Bryan. 

"Do you really think we'll have it handled if she finds out?" Adam asked me.

"I… I'm not sure."

We sat there in silence for a minute, our hands crossed in our laps. 

"Did we fuck up?" Adam asked, glancing at me.

"I don't think so, no, I think it was a good idea. Maybe."

We watched as the kids all played together and how happy they all looked. 

"I think it was a good idea simply for that, look at his smile. I haven't seen him look that happy before," I said. 

Adam nodded, slightly smiling, "Yeah, you're right. I think it'll be alright."

  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, I'll only do this a few times, but. Don't come at me for the logistics of the physical regression unless you got suggestions to make it more "realistic." It's magical scientific bullsh*t I came up with at 16. This story has changed so much since I was 16 and started this (2015 to be clear, I'm 21 now.) and some things cannot change or I don't know how to change them. Also I'm sorry this chapter is so... this was the first time I rewrote this particular chapter and it's so different I have nothing to compare it to.


	7. Hurricane

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Hurricanes, clown mentions, arguing as usual, abandonment, panic, implied turtle death, off-screen parental fighting, a dog falls into a pool, a joke involving Da/ddy kinks and songs from Mother Mother, more hints to cheating and lying, slight homophobia

The start of October brought us two very interesting events that really should have made us realize just how wild the ending of that year was going to be. 

"Flynn! Wake up!" I heard shouted into my ear as I was being shaken awake by my brother.

"God, what?" I groaned, squinting as I looked at him.

"There's a hurricane out there," he exclaimed, a very worried look across his face which I rarely ever saw. This was the same boy who jumped off the top of a playground set just a few months prior, and the same boy who got into fights with our parents for fun.

"So? It's hurricane season, dipshit. Aren't there always hurricanes out there?" I responded groggily as I buried my face back into my pillow.

"It's bad! It's predicted to hit us head-on, and it could hit as a three or higher!"

"They always predict that. We'll be fine. Since, c'mon, Howl-O-Scream is this week, the hurricane can't come."

"Oh, yeah, the hurricane will totally take into account the fact that some random high schoolers have a trip they want to go on."

"It should."

Bryan pulled the pillow out from under me and hit me with it, "Fine, when it comes I'll throw you outside and lock you out there. You can try and survive out there."

I rolled my eyes and went back to sleep, only to be woken back up ten minutes later by my alarm. Bryan was still freaking out about it but I chose to ignore him and go about my day.

The next day, the topic of the hurricane came back up as we were heading to Adam's car.

"Maybe it'll drown the clowns," I said with a smirk.

"There's a hurricane barreling towards us and you're making jokes about it?" Bryan asked. 

"There are murderous clowns out there and you're making jokes about it?" Adam asked.

"Drown The Clowns 2016!" Cas exclaimed as they ran up to us.

"Including the biggest clown of them all, please!" I replied.

"Yeah! Pennywise!"

"Not who I meant, but yes, he killed my boy."

Adam sighed deeply, "I cannot believe you're making jokes about a very serious event."

I laughed, "Babe, it's honestly just some promotion for the remake of IT. At least, that's probably what started it."

"And the hurricane?"

"No big deal. We'll survive."

Our phones all went off and Adam pulled out his to check it.

"There's early release tomorrow and no school Thursday and Friday," Adam announced. 

"Schools canceled, hell yeah," I exclaimed.

Bryan sighed deeply, "We're fucked."

"We're not fucked-"

"Flynn, we had a tropical storm over the top of us, fucking up everything and flooding our middle school's parking lot and we still had to go to school! Do you think for a second they would cancel school if it wasn't a very serious threat?!"

"Bryan," I responded with the same know-it-all tone he gave me, "we also had the next day off because of the backlash our school got for making us stay in school, and so yeah, they probably don't want to get shit once again from parents, so, yes, they would cancel it if it wasn't a serious threat."

He rolled his eyes, "Whatever Flynn. Adam, any idea what Rodney and his family are doing for this?"

"No idea, we can check before we go back to my place to board up. I'm sure they'll be fine though, I think Elizabeth might be working through it, people need their fast food during a storm of course," Adam said as he rolled his eyes.

"Know what I need in the middle of a Cat 5? Some Chinese food and some shitty subs," Cas said with a fake southern accent. 

I rolled my eyes, "I'll only worry if Waffle House closes its doors, then and only then will it be serious."

"How come you and your brother's personalities switched?" Adam asked me.

"Yeah, Bry's the one making jokes the majority of the time, especially with references. Isn't there some musical out there with a song for this issue?" Cas asked.

"Because it's a serious issue that he's not taking seriously," Bryan replied, "because God forbid we take a hurricane seriously just because we deal with it every year."

"I'm just not going to panic over something that's still very far away from us."

"Whatever."

We arrived at Adam's car and Bryan got into the back seat without a word. 

"Well, see you after this hurricane does nothing to us. Good luck boarding up," I said to Cas.

"Same to you. See you later."

Adam and I got into the front seats, Adam starting up the car and beginning our drive to Rodney's place. 

"So what are we going to do if it's really bad? Especially with how our parents are, I cannot be stuck inside with them," Bryan complained. 

"You can stay with us, if we don't decide to stay with Rodney and his family," Adam suggested. 

"Thanks."

We arrived shortly at Rodney's place and I used my key to let us in.

"Hold on, I need to get my charger from the house if we're going to Adam's after this," Bryan said, "I won't be long."

"Alright," I said.

As Adam and I walked in, we saw Rodney pacing around the house, looking very distraught.

"Dude, are you fine?" I asked as I walked over to him.

"Hell no. She left. With the kids. She just left me here."

"Why did she leave you here?"

"I don't know! She doesn't want to be here for it and I asked her to wait until I could figure out what you guys were gonna do, but no, she wanted to leave right that second! I don't know what to do! If I have to leave, where do I go? And I can't go by myself!"

"Hey, it's okay, breathe. We'll figure it out," I said as I rested my hands on his shoulders. 

He took a deep breath, "I'm terrified, oh god."

"It's going to be okay, I promise," I reassured him as I led him to the couch to sit down with Adam and me.

He sat down with us, "I'm terrified, I hate hurricanes, Jesus."

The front door opened with a loud slam as it shut, "Guess what!"

"What Bryan?" I asked.

He entered the room, looking very pissed off, "Dad left to a hotel in God knows where and Mom's going to Michigan! Told me that you and I can stay with the dogs and be here if anything happens to the house!"

"What the fuck? Why is everyone leaving people behind?" Adam asked.

Bryan looked at Rodney, "Wait, did Elizabeth leave too?"

"Mhm, took the kids."

"What the fuck."

"Okay, look you guys, it'll be fine. Let's decide which house we'll stay in, we might as well stay together if it's just us five," Adam suggested.

"Our place is mostly windows, I am not staying there," Bryan said.

"We're going to board it up anyways, we can't leave it like that. It would be helpful if dad did it before he left but," I said.

"Still. I am not staying there."

"I don't trust my place, honestly," Adam said, "It's one bad wind away from caving in, everything's broken in that place."

"We can stay here, it's built well, we have good shutters," Rodney suggested.

"Alright, yeah, I guess," Bryan said. 

We spent the rest of our day boarding up, helping Harry board up Adam and his house before he went to work, coming back to my house to board up what we could before nightfall. We skipped school the next day to finish up my house and get Rodney's set up. As the night began to fall, Rodney was convinced we probably shouldn't even stick around for it to hit. I was still convinced we were fine, but as the next morning hit, and Hurricane Matthew was beginning to seriously threaten our coast, I began to agree. 

"Okay, so what do we do?" I asked as he entered the kitchen that morning. 

"Uh, I have a friend who lives on the West Coast, we could stay with him if he'll allow us. I'm sure he will, he's literally family. He's Elizabeth's cousin."

"Oh. Interesting."

"Yeah. I'll call him in a moment, I need something to wake me up."

"Alright, I'll let Bryan know, he'll be happy at the idea of getting out of here."

"We're leaving?!" Bryan shouted as he burst into the room, "I'm ready, let's fucking go!" 

"He still has to call his friend, Bry, chill out."

"I'm going to get our stuff packed up," Bryan said as he left the kitchen. 

"Is he always like this?" Rodney asked.

"Not in the slightest."

A few hours came and went, and we were on the road heading to the West Coast, with everyone including Bryan and my dogs, Miley and Miko in tow. I was forced to drive while Bryan sat upfront with me, giving me directions and finding places to stop if need be. 

"Make sure you don't hit any turtles," Bryan said as we were passing through a very large gathering of trees.

"Will you ever forget that?" 

"Never in my life."

Rodney spoke up, "What's this about a turtle?"

"One day while we were heading to Sanibel for a trip, our father hit a turtle and we cracked jokes about the entire ride. Because he's a terrible driver," Bryan explained.

"Every time we pass through here, we make jokes about it. Especially Bryan and especially to our dad."

"Because it's hilarious."

"Whatever you say."

The rest of the trip went pretty well, the only stops we took were for McDonald's and gas. We were finally approaching the houses and all of us kept our eye out for the house we were looking for. 

"It's right up there, the two-story house," Bryan pointed out. 

I pulled into the driveway of the house, as a man came out the front door. He was quite tall and tan with messy black hair. He was wearing a t-shirt and plaid pajama pants. 

"Hey, Alex," Rodney said as he got out of the car, "see you're fitting right in living at home again."

"I was sleeping when you called and then I went back to sleep, don't judge me."

"Of course you did. You still haven't fixed your sleep schedule after all these years?"

"Nope."

"Not surprised. Anyways, thanks for letting us come stay. Meet Adam's boyfriend, Flynn, and his brother, Bryan," Rodney said, gesturing to us. 

I gave him a wave as I collected up my bags, "Nice to meet you."

Bryan grabbed the dogs and led them to the backyard, while Harry and Adam grabbed the rest of the bags and began taking them inside. Meanwhile, Alex and Rodney were talking in-depth about God knows what. 

I rolled my eyes and headed inside as well. Adam was caught up in a conversation with who I assumed was Alex's mother. 

"Oh, let me show you boys to your rooms," she said as I walked up to them. 

She led us upstairs and gestured to two bedrooms, "You boys can choose where you'll all stay, one room has a pull-out couch and a twin size futon. The other room has just a queen bed in it." 

"Alright, thank you, ma'am," I said. 

"You're welcome. Now. Where are Alex and Rodney, why aren't they helping you boys?" 

She went down the stairs and I could hear her open up the front door and shout something I couldn't make out before I started to understand what she was saying. 

"You two are really going to make these young boys carry in all the luggage? You lovebirds can catch up later!" 

I snickered, "Alrighty then, so how are we going to do this?" 

"Dibs on the actual bed, I need to sleep on something comfortable," Harry said. 

"That's not fair, you'll have to share with somebody," I said. 

Adam laughed, "Babe you know exactly who he's gonna share with." 

"Oh. Oh, you right." 

Harry rolled his eyes as he carried his luggage to the room with the queen bed in it as Adam and I brought ours to the other room. Rodney came upstairs shortly after, dropping his luggage down in the room with us. 

"Got chewed out by your besties mom, huh?" Adam asked. 

"Shut up," Rodney mumbled. 

"Lovebird?" I asked. 

"Shut. Up." 

Bryan entered the room with both our dogs in tow, "Um, excuse me, where am I supposed to sleep?" 

"With…" I began to say before I realized where I was going with that sentence. 

"In Harry's room," Adam answered without issue. 

"No, he said I'm not allowed because he wants the entire bed so." 

"Oh no, your boyfriend said you can't sleep with him? How sad- oh! That's why you paused Flynn," Rodney said, throwing his hand to his mouth. 

Bryan sighed, "I hate you guys so much." 

I made the heart shape with my hands, "Love you too bro." 

Bryan flicked me off, "Guess I'll sleep outside then. If you need me I will be sinking slowly to my impending death caused by how much I hate this family." 

"And I'm the edgy one for having dyed hair, sure," I mumbled as Bryan left the room. 

"I'm going to go watch that, just because I think it'll be hilarious," Adam said. 

"You do that, I'm going to stay up here and watch some TV." 

"Same, let me know how it goes though," Rodney said as he sat down in the chair. 

Adam threw us a thumbs up and headed out of the room as well. I turned on the television and flicked through channels until I ended up on HGTV and got caught into an episode simply because there was a gay couple in it. 

Three episodes of House Hunters later, I heard a giggle from across the room and directed my attention to it. Rodney was sitting there, younger now, petting Miley who was trying to lick his hand. I smiled at the sight. 

"C'mon we should probably let the guys know you're younger and get you some stuff, I completely forgot to get your clothes and toys earlier." 

We headed downstairs again when we ran into Alex. 

"When did the kid get here?" He asked, looking at Rodney. 

"Uh just a few minutes ago, uh, you see-" 

"Hi, Ally!" Rodney exclaimed, reaching up to him. 

Alex lifted him up, setting him on his hip, "Well I only know one munchkin who calls me that. What's up kiddo?" 

"I missed you!" 

"Well, I missed you too. Whatcha been up to?" 

"Uh, not a lot. It's kinda boring sometimes." 

"I bet." 

Alex looked at me, "So, uh, how did he get even smaller because he wasn't this small when he got here." 

"Well, this girl offered up a serum that makes him physically look like a kid when this happens so he isn't so ashamed of it basically." 

"Hm, that's cool. Now my munchkin really looks like a munchkin, huh?" Alex said, smirking as he poked at Rodney. 

"Hey!" Rodney exclaimed, pouting and giving Alex a poke back. 

I smiled at the interaction, "Well, I'll be right back if you don't mind, I need to get a few more things from the car." 

"No big deal, not the first time I've watched him as a kiddo, just the first time he's been this small." 

I headed out to the car and grabbed a bag that was in the backseat, that had a few outfits in it for Rodney as well as a few small toys like a few cars and a small LEGO set. Also in the bag was a stuffed animal that Rodney loved as a kid, which he had ended up naming after me by using my last name. 

When I headed back inside, I saw Rodney and Alex were sitting on the couch, Alex flipping through movies on Netflix. 

"Hey kiddo, here you go," I said as I handed Rodney the stuffed bear. 

"Dank you!" He exclaimed, hugging it before showing it to Alex, "Look Ally!" 

"Oh, nice! What's their name?" 

"Perry!" 

"Oh, wow, that's a nice name." 

"Mhm!" Rodney replied, still hugging it. 

Bryan and Adam headed back inside, sitting down on the couch. Bryan had his arms crossed and he looked very grumpy. 

"What's wrong with you?" I asked Bryan. 

Adam answered for him, "First I wouldn't let him drown in the pool, then your guys' parents called him and so he was on the phone with them for a while and they're upset we came here." 

"They're upset we left to come somewhere safer? Jesus Christ," I mumbled. 

"I hate them," Bryan mumbled. 

"We know."

Mrs. Martinez came into the room, "Alex, Natalia's going to be coming over for dinner and she's going to bring her girlfriend. So, what are you going to make?"

Alex threw his hand to his chest, "What am I going to make?!"

She glared at him, "¿Perdóneme? ¿En serio?"

Alex looked like his life was flashing before his eyes as she began going on for several minutes, not letting him get a word in. What I could gather is she was calling him out for not doing anything around the house and always playing video games. When she finished, she was still glaring at him. 

"Lo siento, madre," he apologized before looking to us, "Fine, what do you guys want for dinner?"

Bryan shrugged, kind of staring off into the distance. 

"I really don't care," Adam said, "I'll take whatever."

Rodney began poking Alex to get his attention. 

"I know exactly what you're going to ask for," Alex said as he looked at him.

"Spaghetti!" he exclaimed, smiling up at Alex.

Alex shook his head, "Any other suggestions?"

"Spaghetti's fine," Bryan mumbled out. 

"Yeah, spaghetti sounds good," I added. 

"Fine, spaghetti it is, kiddo you want to help?" Alex asked Rodney. 

"Yeah!" Rodney exclaimed. 

Alex got up after helping Rodney down and led him to the kitchen. 

"So, does anyone want to explain the kid?" Mrs. Martinez asked, looking at us. 

"Adam can, I'm going to check on the dogs," I said as I headed upstairs. 

"Babe! Really?" he shouted after me. 

I threw up a peace sign as I headed to the room we were staying in. The dogs were staring at me as I entered the room. 

"What, you guys want to go outside?" I asked. 

Miley barked at me and I took that as a yes. I picked both of them up and headed downstairs once again, heading to the back door as I picked up on the conversation going on. 

"... one thing led to another and well y'know, we felt like we had to do something…"

Bryan spotted me and nearly jumped out of his chair, going to the sliding glass door and opening it for me, following me outside. I set the dogs down and glanced at him.

"You good?"

"Yeah just… slightly out of it. I'm hella tired."

"Honestly, same. I'd love to just sleep." 

There was a shout from across the patio, "Hey! Shit! Guys, your dog!" 

Both of us looked to the source, seeing Harry kneeling down on the pool ledge, grabbing at something in the water. I realized what the something was and ran over.

"Oh my God! What happened?!" I shouted as I knelt down, helping Harry grab my dog out of the water. I held Miko in my arms once we got him out, Miko squirming a bunch.

"What were you thinking, Miko? You cannot swim in their pool!"

Harry shook his head, "I… he just… he just walked right into it."

"He's… a bit of an idiot, oh my God." 

Miko kept squirming in my arms, trying to get out as if he hadn't just fallen in the water. I got up and walked back to where Bryan and I were standing, setting him back down.

"Do not go towards the water again, you dip," I said to Miko, "Where's Miley anyway?"

Bryan pointed to a pot that she was sniffing around, "I think she saw a lizard or something."

"Alright, as long as she doesn't jump in next."

"At least she could actually swim if she did. Miko's too dumb to swim," Bryan said as he sat down. Harry and I joined him.

"So what are you guys doing out here?" Harry asked.

"I wanted to just bring the dogs out here and chill," I answered.

"Needed some quiet, what about you?" Bryan added.

"Same. Lot is going on, figured I'd soak up the sun before the hurricane hits because I'm sure we'll be seeing some rain from it regardless."

"Fair enough."

We sat out there for a while, keeping our eyes on Miko and enjoying the peace and quiet. About an hour later, the peacefulness was interrupted. The sliding glass door opened up with Adam telling us dinner was ready. Bryan and Harry went to get the dogs to go back inside. 

Alex and his family were in the living room, talking to each other when Alex noticed us heading back inside.

"Guys, meet my sister, Natalia, and her girlfriend, Lindsay. And you've already met my mother, Emma, and this is my father Nicolas," Alex said as he gestured to each family member, "family, you know Harry, Adam, the kiddo is Rodney, don't ask, and then there's Adam's boyfriend, Flynn and his brother Bryan."

Harry spoke up, "Hey Natalia, looks like you grew out of your emo phase, huh?" 

"Yeah, looks like you're still the annoying kid you were."

Harry rolled his eyes, "Wow, how rude." 

She smirked, "That's my job, to bully you." 

"Enough bullying, c'mon, let's get some food now, I worked my butt off making it," Alex said. 

"Now you know how I feel," Emma said as she went to go get a plate. 

"Oh wow, you actually made dinner?" Natalia teased Alex.

Emma glanced at her, "You know, you could make dinner one of these days you decide to come over."

Natalia made the zipped lips motion and headed to the kitchen. I followed and started making up my own plate, while Adam was making a plate for himself and Rodney, who was bouncing in excitement for spaghetti.

"I didn't know you liked spaghetti so much, kiddo," I commented.

"Oh God, it's all he would ever eat when we were teens. Every time he came over it was 'do you think your mom can make spaghetti tonight?'" Alex explained. 

"She make good spaghetti!" Rodney exclaimed.

"He had everyone wrapped around his finger though," Natalia said as she turned to look at me, "he could ask anybody to do anything for him when he's like this. I couldn't convince my parents to do much, but he could ask them with puppy dog eyes and they'd drop everything and do it."

"We took you to pride three years in a row and didn't just leave you there, we walked around with you," Mr. Martinez pointed out, "And I bought you a new flag every year and had to help you hang it up in your room."

"They were three different flags though."

"How many flags do you need to say you're gay, sweetheart?"

"I needed the traditional rainbow flag, a lesbian flag, and then one mixed with the Mexico flag, duh."

I looked to Bryan, "Imagine owning a pride flag."

"Imagine having our parents taking us to pride," he shot back. 

Both of us chuckled, "Never in a million years." 

Everyone kind of stopped what they were doing for a moment, Alex's parents staring at us.

"Alex, look up when the next pride is, I am taking these boys," Mrs. Martinez announced. 

"We're good, ma'am, we can take ourselves," I said as I finished getting my plate.

"I just realized something, how are we going to fit everyone at the table?" Lindsay asked.

"Guess we'll have to share a seat," Natalia suggested, smirking at her. 

Alex glared at his sister, "No, some of us can sit outside and I for one will be one of them sitting outside so I can be away from you."

And so, Alex, Harry, Bryan, Adam, Rodney and I all ended up sitting outside, while Natalia, Lindsay, and Alex and Natalia's parents sat inside at the table. 

"So Alex, got anybody special in your life yet?" Harry asked. 

"I've always been single, so no."

"Didn't seem like it ten years ago," Harry mumbled which got a snicker from Adam and Rodney both. 

"What?" I asked, looking over at Adam.

"Nothing," Adam said, waving his hand dismissively.

Alex rolled his eyes, "Don't know what you're talking about, Harry, and I don't want to discuss it. So, how about you, you got a boyfriend?"

"Not right now, no."

"Are you sure about that?"

"Yes, why wouldn't I be?"

"Oh, just because you're sitting closer to Bryan than Flynn and Adam are sitting, and they're a couple so."

Harry glanced at Bryan and scooted away a bit, "Your point?"

"Just implying stuff the same way you are trying to," Alex responded, beginning to smirk.

I looked at Adam, whispering, "Who is Harry implying he was with?"

"Nobody, babe. Don't worry about it."

"Well, now I'm wondering."

Adam sighed, "It's not important, I promise, just drop it. Harry's trying to just get a rise out of Alex over stuff that's not important and honestly a bit dumb to be bringing up. Don't worry about it."

"I feel left out of all of this," I grumbled, "all you guys have all these like little jokes and secrets I don't get. I feel kind of awkward being here like clearly you three are close to this family and I don't know them at all! How am I supposed to really interact? All I am right now is 'Adam's boyfriend.' I'd like to understand some of this stuff so I can join in on conversations."

Alex overheard what I had said, "Hey, okay, let's talk about something you and your brother are interested in. Other than these Myers boys, I am quite tired of hearing about them anyways. I had to grow up around them being so important, after all, especially one of them."

Rodney glared at him, "Hey!"

Alex smirked, "What, you are important and I hear so much about you. Doesn't mean I don't love you, I just would also like to hear about something other than stuff only we will understand."

Bryan spoke up, "Ooh, have you gone to see any musicals? There's always shows going on over here."

"Oh God, no, let's not talk about musicals," I groaned.

"Rude," Bryan mumbled.

"I haven't yet, no, but I did have someone suggest Dear Evan Hansen to me so I've been meaning to listen to the soundtrack, and hopefully one day I'll see a showing of it if it ever comes down here."

"Oh, it's really good. You'll love it."

"I've heard it a ton already," I added, "all he listens to nowadays aside from super emo music about being lonely and existing sung by guys in their bedrooms is musicals."

"Flatsound is good, you listen to it too."

"But it's nearly all you listen to, that's the problem."

"Just last week you listened to Mother Mother and Twenty One Pilots on repeat, that's it. Don't come at me for my music tastes."

"There's a band called Mother Mother?" Alex asked.

"Yeah, and they have a spinoff band called Father Father," Harry joked.

Adam began to get a smirk cross his face, "Give me a second, I got a good joke. Okay, here me out. Would… would a band…" he was already laughing at his own dumb joke, "A band of those Tumblr girls be called… Daddy Daddy."

I smacked him on the arm, "Adam Vincent Myers! No!"

He fell into a deep state of laughter, doubling over, "All their songs are just like 'I'm a fuckin' princess!'"

Alex was staring at Adam, confusion written all over his face, "Now I understand how you feel Flynn, what the fuck is he talking about."

"You don't want to know," I answered, shaking my head as I glared at my extremely dumb boyfriend who was still laughing to himself.

"'Take my eyes, take them aside, bleach 'em out, please kill me,'" Bryan sang to the tune of Body by Mother Mother.

"What about Verbatim, you could make a good parody of the first lyrics to that," Harry said.

"You do it and you're dead," I said, pointing at them, "you are not ruining Mother Mother for me."

"How's the original go again?" Adam asked, catching his breath.

"It's, uh, the line about wearing something and then 'I go to strike a pose in my full-length mirror.'"

Adam burst back into laughter and I buried my face in my hands, sighing heavily, "I hate this family."

"Okay, uh, love the chaotic energy we got going on, but may I remind you guys, there's a child here."

"It's fine, he hears enough weird stuff daily," Bryan said.

"No! It's not fine," Alex and I both exclaimed. 

"I will steal him from you guys, oh my God."

"Please don't, we won't be able to explain it to Elizabeth," I said, glancing at him.

"Oh, don't worry about Elizabeth, I can deal with her myself. 'Sorry, I'm better at taking care of him like this.' Since, on that subject, is she not worried about him being like this during a hurricane? Where is she?"

"She… she doesn't know about this. So, no, she's not. She expected him to stay behind and take care of the house and took the kids with her."

"Take care of... what? That's dumb, where did she go?"

"Uh, I guess wherever her parents live? Adam, where did Rodney say she was going?" 

"Alabama, right? That's where she went last time."

"Uh, that'll be rough for her then, since last I checked her parents are on vacation in Mexico, visiting the family who still lives there. They spend a few months every few years there, they've been gone since… oh God, June?"

"June?" I asked.

"But, no, no way, she just visited them in July for Sage and Bella's birthday," Adam said.

"Uh, I don't know then. Maybe they came back for a few weeks to take care of their place because of hurricane season? I don't know that much, I just know what I see on Facebook and hear from my mom."

Rodney looked distressed at the conversation going on and tugged on Alex's shirt, "Ally?"

"Yeah, bud?" Alex asked, looking down at him.

"Are… are they okay?"

"Are who okay?"

"Sage, Bells, and Dyl."

"Oh, yeah, I'm sure they are. Hey, okay, look. I'll call her and figure out where she is, there's probably some big misunderstanding going on. I'm sorry I said anything."

He pulled out his phone, flipping through his contacts before clicking on one and putting it on speaker. The ringer rang through the air before it eventually stopped and was replaced with Elizabeth's voice. He put his finger to his mouth to indicate that we all needed to stay quiet.

"Hello, Alex?"

"Hi Eliza, I'm just calling to see how you guys are doing with this storm out there."

"Oh, yeah, we're doing fine. Got everything taken care of."

"Did you guys need somewhere to stay or anything? We got room for all the kiddos and you two if need be. I know your parents are still in Mexico, right?"

"Oh, yeah, no we're good. We're staying with a friend up in Alabama and I'm keeping my eye on my parent's property, it's not that far away."

"Oh, okay. Weird, I just talked to Rodney earlier and he said he was helping out with his cousins so I figured you guys were, y'know, home."

"Oh, yeah, no, he stayed behind to keep his eye on the house and make sure his cousins are fine. You know, since their parents live up in Georgia, it's good for them to have some adult supervision especially during this."

"Yeah, no, makes sense. So the kids are doing good? Did I miss their birthdays again? This year has gone by so fast."

"Yeah, you did. Don't worry, your mom sent a card with your name attached as always."

"Oh good, that's good. It must suck with you living so far away from your parents though, can't really celebrate with them unless either they come down or you guys go up there."

"Yeah, it kind of does suck. But we'll see them soon enough, enough holidays in the year."

"Yeah, you're right. Well, I'll let you go. Stay safe. Tell the girls I said happy belated birthday."

"Alright, Alex. Bye."

He hung up and put his phone down, "Well."

"Um, that was…. Informative," Adam said.

I stared in disbelief at what I had just heard, "There has to be an explanation."

"She probably never specified where she was going this time to him and he assumed it was her parents. She is up there, apparently, and it makes sense she'd keep her eye on the place if they're out of town. And she never did say she didn't see them for the girls' birthdays. We're still probably misunderstanding the situation," Alex said.

"She's cheating," Bryan said.

"Oh, c'mon, she's not cheating," I said, glaring at him, "and even if she was, would she really bring her kids to see the dude she's cheating on Rodney with?"

"Maybe. You never know, cheaters be like that."

"Also, what, she's cheating long distance? He would have to live in Alabama."

"If that's where she's actually going."

"She has pictures of the kids in front of some museum up in Alabama. Clearly, she was in Alabama in July, no matter what the real story is."

"Can we stop," Alex asked, gesturing to Rodney, "Somebody is getting really upset at this topic now."

I looked back over at them and saw Rodney was crying, his arms wrapped around Alex tightly. Alex hugged Rodney, patting his head.

"Hey, it's okay. You know what, I have some ice cream, you want to go get some?"

Rodney nodded, sniffling.

"Okay, we can do that. Anybody else wants any?"

We all rejected as Alex got up, picking Rodney up and carrying him inside. The rest of us sat there, taking in what had just happened still. Eventually, we got it off our minds and finished up with our dinner and headed back inside. Harry and Bryan took the dishes to the kitchen to clean off.

"We're going to watch a movie, you guys want to join?" Natalia asked as she was sitting down with a remote in her hand.

"Sure, what movie?" I asked, sitting down as well. 

"Not sure yet, we got to see what everyone else wants to watch."

"Fair enough."

Eventually, everyone was gathered in the living room, ready to watch something. Alex was sitting on the ground with Rodney sitting on his lap, while Natalia and Lindsay were cuddled up on the couch behind him. Adam and I were also sitting next to each other, arms wrapped around each other. On the other couch was Mr. and Mrs. Martinez, while Harry was sitting in a chair across from them, with Bryan sitting with him as a 'joke' which turned into two hours of them cuddling in the chair. The movie we agreed on? Finding Nemo.

"Can you imagine being Dory? Never remembering anything," Bryan said.

"Can I what?" Alex asked, smirking.

"Being Dory. You wouldn't-"

"Being who?" he said, still smirking with small laughter coming from Rodney.

Bryan glared at him, "Oh, haha, so funny."

"What's funny?"

That got a chuckle from the rest of us, including Harry.

"I don't like you guys," Bryan mumbled.

As night fell and the movie ended, Adam got up and stretched.

"I'm going to get the dogs' food and take them outside before bed."

Lindsay pulled her phone out, presumably checking the time, "Yeah and we gotta get going. It was nice meeting you guys, I hope we get to see you guys some other time."

"It was really nice to get to see you two again," Natalia said to Harry and Adam, "and to meet your boys. You better treat them right though."

"Trust me, I do," Adam said, shaking his head, "it was nice seeing you guys again. Have a safe drive."

He headed upstairs as the rest of us said our goodbyes to Natalia and Lindsay.

"Bye Nat an' Lin!" Rodney exclaimed, waving to them as they headed out.

"Bye kid!" Natalia said, waving back. 

"Well," Alex said, "I still have to set up down here to sleep."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Well, clearly, my bedroom is being used tonight. You think we have not one but two spare rooms? No. We technically used to before I moved back here but. Whatever y'know. So, I gotta sleep down here tonight."

"What, no, we'll be fine down here, we don't need to kick you out of your room. If I had known earlier I would've insisted that we could stay down here instead."

"No, it's fine. I don't mind it, this couch is comfy anyways. It's one night."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure."

Rodney got his attention, "Ally, can I stay down here with you?"

"Uh, if it's fine with Flynn, yeah, I don't see why not."

Rodney looked at me, "Can I?!"

"Yeah, sure, buddy," I said, smiling as Rodney began to smile widely.

"Thank you! I love you!"

"You're welcome. Well, I'm going to go upstairs and get ready for bed. Goodnight kiddo, goodnight guys."

I ruffled Rodney's hair as I got up and headed upstairs. I dug through my bag and got out pajamas, quickly getting dressed and set up the pullout bed. I climbed into bed once it was ready and scrolled through my phone.

"Hey babe," Adam said as he came into the room with the dogs. 

"Hey," I said, not looking up from my phone. 

He climbed into bed next to me, wrapping his arms around me, "I love you."

"I love you too."

He kissed me on the cheek, "What is so important on Tumblr anyways?"

I placed my phone down and looked at him, "Nothing."

"Then gimme attention, we've been around people all day and I haven't been able to get your undivided attention."

"You're so needy," I teased, wrapping my arms around him, kissing him.

"Hell yeah I am," he said, kissing me back, "There's always so much going on, and we never get alone time."

"Then aren't we lucky right now we got some," I said, smirking. 

He smiled as well before laughing a bit, "God this sounds like it's going a completely different direction as if we aren't just going to cuddle and fall asleep."

"That's the most we do anyways, so it might as well be treated like that," I said as I placed my phone on the nightstand, giving him another kiss and pulling him further to me and into a cuddle, "I love you so much."

"I love you so much more."

We fell asleep cuddling, not wanting to let go of the other. When we awoke the next morning, we were still cuddling. It was less graceful as the night was, however. The comforter was at the end of the bed, the sheets were all on his side while a small blanket covered me. Our legs were lying on top of each other, my arm was stuck under him and his arm was stuck underneath me. We got up, stretching together.

"What time is it?" He asked.

I shrugged and grabbed my phone, "Eight."

"I wonder if they're having breakfast yet," Adam said, getting out of bed.

"Maybe," I responded, getting out of bed as well.

We headed to the door and left the room. I saw that Rodney had turned back to normal, yet was still lying on the couch with Alex.

"Aw. How adorable," Adam commented as we headed down the stairs.

"Do you think either one of them has noticed?"

"Probably not."

I walked over and woke them up, "Hey guys, wake up."

Rodney groaned as he opened his eyes, "It's too early, Flynn."

Alex kept his eyes shut but spoke, "Echo, what time is it?"

"8:32 am," his device responded.

"It's not too early, Rodney. It's 8 o'clock," Alex mumbled out.

"It's a day off, I don't get up before ten o'clock unless I have to."

I tilted my head, "Y'all know you're still cuddling right?"

Alex opened his eyes to look at me, "Wow, no shit. I didn't realize the one-seventy-pound weight on top of me. Thank you, Captain Obvious."

"You don't care that you're cuddling?"

Alex shook his head, "Young him loves being hugged and cuddled and all that. You think we haven't before? Let me tell you how many times he woke up, cuddling with John or me. It was a whole hell of a lot. I don't care, he fell asleep as a kid and turned back to normal. Oh well, what am I going to do? Banish him to the floor?"

"I'd kill him if he did that," Rodney mumbled out, closing his eyes, presumably to go back to sleep.

I looked at Adam, "You didn't even allow me to hold your hand before we started dating. Look at them, they're cuddling and don't care."

Adam stared at me, "We knew each other for a month. They've known each other for like fifteen years."

"So?"

Adam rolled his eyes, "I'm going to make myself some breakfast."

"Alright," I said, sitting down in a chair. I turned on the television to Nickelodeon. Within the next twenty minutes, everyone else ended up getting up. Alex's mother and Adam prepared breakfast for everyone. Bryan and Harry came down and I noticed that Bryan was wearing Harry's t-shirt.

"Nice shirt, Bry," I said with a smirk.

"Nothing happened," He said, glaring at me, "I just wanted to wear this t-shirt, alright?"

I chuckled, "I sure hope nothing happened. It's still cute regardless that you're wearing his shirt."

He flicked me off as he headed to the kitchen.

Once breakfast was done, everyone rushed to get food. I joined them, walking at a decent pace because I didn't want to rush. Half of us ended back up in the living room since there wasn't a lot of room at the dining table. Someone threw on HGTV, which had House Hunters and Love It or List It, which caused us to yell at the television. Some memorable highlights stuck in my mind like these.

"Martha, you do not need six bedrooms for four people!'

"Damon, you have four kids and are forcing them to all share a room while y'all got two extra rooms? What the hell?"

"Georgia, what the hell! Y'all got two girls who want their own rooms and that house has two perfectly small rooms for your girls! Why are you obsessed with having five bedrooms when only two are being used as bedrooms?"

"Well, Stuart, Hilary would be able to fix your bathroom if you threw her more money. You gave her like twenty-k and a list of thirty major things to do!"

"Hilary, I could build a better house than that and I don't have a college degree."

"This is truly how real estate is. They're never happy."

"You two literally have different wants. Lynn wants a big ass yard and a 1920s style house and Virginia wants a small yard and a Spanish style house. Come up with a compromise!"

"Vanessa, you idiot, you choose the house least like what you wanted! What the heck, Vanessa! You are a goddamn idiot!"

It was truly the best experience ever. We also made bets on which house people would choose or if they would Love It or List It, depending on the show of course. We had ended up with little teams, Alex and Rodney, Harry and Bryan, and Adam and I. Alex and Rodney almost always got it right.

Around noon, we decided it was time to head home as the hurricane didn't really hit our area. We had some storms but other than that it was safe.

"Thanks for letting us stay here, we were kind of worried," Rodney said to Alex's parents.

"We all were pretty freaked out because of this hurricane. So thanks for taking us and our dogs in," I said, holding Miko in my arms.

"It's no big deal. We love having people over. And it was so nice to see Rodney as well, we haven't seen him in forever!" Mrs. Martinez said.

"Have a safe drive home," Mr. Martinez said.

"Thanks," we all said as we got in our car and adjusted ourselves in the car. We started heading home.

"So anyway, Rodney, what happened between you and Alex anyways?" Harry asked.

"None of your business, Harry."

"Is Alex gay?" Bryan asked.

"No, he's straighter than a ruler."

"Are you sure?" Adam asked.

"Shut up!" Rodney yelled, "He's straight and nothing happened between us!"

Miley barked at him and Rodney groaned, grabbing headphones and putting them on his head. I shook my head.

"Guys, don't bother him about it. Let's just have a calm drive home, alright?" I said.

"Alright, 'dad'," Bryan said, rolling his eyes.

I rolled my eyes back at him and plugged my phone in, turning on some music. The rest of the car ride was mostly silent, everyone doing their own thing. We stopped halfway to let the dogs use the bathroom and also for us to go as well. When we got home, everything was fine except for a weak tree in our backyard that had fallen over.

"Great, we could've just stayed home," Rodney mumbled out as we were taking down our boards.

"But we wouldn't have got to spend time with your friend and his family," I pointed out. 

"Yeah, I've missed Alex, he was always the coolest one of the three of you guys," Adam said. 

"Wait, why Alex?" Rodney asked.

"Okay, well, it's mostly because he was the best at Mario-" Adam began to explain before he got cut off.

"Oh beyond the best!" Harry shouted, "He knew how to do everything!"

"Yeah, it was amazing, so. He wins the coolest."

"What about me? I was pretty cool!" Rodney shouted.

"Eh," Adam and Harry both said, smiling. 

"Oh screw you two, I was cool."

"Yeah, but Alex is the coolest," Adam said, "I mean all of you guys were cool, but Alex wins coolest, I'm sorry."

"He seems pretty cool," I commented. 

"I mean, I know someone who can also beat Mario-" Rodney began to say. 

"Robert doesn't count, he worked in a toy store, of course, he knew how to beat levels. Especially since that's his job, Alex did it without getting outside help, Robert was trained basically to do so," Harry said.

"Who gives a heck if they're trained to do it! He still knows how to!"

Bryan and I glanced at each other and said in unison, "Promise me we won't fight over whose friend is the coolest."

"We're not fighting!" Rodney, Harry, and Adam exclaimed. 

"Sure, whatever you guys say," I said, rolling my eyes with a smirk.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	8. Family Portraits

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger Warning: Blatant Transphobia, panic attacks, disassociation, abuse, lying, cheating, implied homophobia, fighting including a character jokingly threatening his brother about suffocation, unhealthy relationships

If there's one thing I learned during all of the stuff going on in our lives, it was that family sometimes sucked terribly. 

It was Thanksgiving break and I had plans that Wednesday to hang out with friends. Bryan had already left for the day, having plans with his friends that began much earlier in the day. I was heading out the front door when my mother stopped me. 

"Why are you so persistent in looking like a boy?" My mother snapped.

"What?" I asked as I turned to her. 

"You're dressed like a boy and you're not one! It's sickening, why can't you just accept that you're a girl?" 

"Because I'm not? Jeez, I'm a boy, everyone else has accepted that, why can't you?" 

"I'm getting sick and tired of you acting like this, young lady. You are my daughter and you always will be!" 

I tried to leave but she grabbed a hold of my arm and yelled at me to change. She began pulling on my flannel and saw my binder. 

"What the fuck is that?" She shouted.

I tensed up, "Uh, it's a tank top, duh." 

"Is that what you've been using to hide your breasts? What the fuck is wrong with you? Where did you even get that?!" 

The next ten minutes went by in a blur, with her yelling slurs at me and using my deadname constantly. She ended up forcing me out of the house and locked the door behind me. I saw my reflection, realizing that she had forced me into an oversized bright pink dress and put makeup on me. It was all messed up, of course from my struggling, but it was enough to make me begin to have a breakdown. I collapsed to my knees as tears flowed down my cheeks. 

"Flynn? Flynn, are you alright?" I heard from above me. 

I slowly glanced up and saw Rodney standing on my porch, concern washed over his face. He helped me up to my feet and I threw myself into a hug with him. 

"Holy shit, are you alright?" He asked, hugging me back. 

I shook my head as he led me back to his house. He headed to his bedroom while I sat on the couch, slightly rocking back and forth. He came back a few minutes later with a t-shirt and sweatpants. 

"I didn't… ask. You didn't… need to," I mumbled as I accepted the clothes.

"I didn't need to ask you if you needed any. I think I can figure out that you need it. Go ahead and change, you can explain afterward." 

I nodded and got up as I headed to the bathroom. My body felt like it was both melting and freezing at the same time. I slowly got dressed in the t-shirt and pants, feeling like I was going to pass out at any moment. I began to wash my face off, staring in the mirror. I had gotten only half of it washed off before I collapsed to the ground again. 

"Flynn?" I heard from the door. The door opened and Rodney was at my side again, "Hey, hey, can you hear me?" 

I nodded slowly. 

"Okay, it's okay," he said, grabbing a washcloth from the sink and wet it, washing my face off, "can you do me a favor?" 

"Hm?" 

"I need you to name, or think of at least if you can't talk, five things you can feel or like to feel." 

"Cloth, shirt, tile. Very cold tile. Uh, blankets, the soft ones. Bry has one, super soft. Um. Adam has a shirt, I steal it from him, it's nice." 

"Okay, good. Four things you see." 

"You, cabinet, mirror, toilet." 

"Three things you can hear." 

"Air conditioning, the television, uh. Myself." 

"Two smells." 

"Misery and my tears." 

"Flynn." 

"I can't smell anything. Uh, vanilla's a good smell and. That stupid fall smell." 

"Okay. One taste." 

"Chocolate." 

Rodney stood up and helped me back up to my feet, "C'mon, let's sit in the living room." 

He helped me back into the room and I sat back down on the couch, curling up in myself. 

"Who did that to you?" 

The answer didn't need to escape my lips for him to get one. 

"You can stay here as long as you need, you don't even have to ever go back." 

"Thanks," I managed to mumble out. 

"I'm serious. As long as you need-" 

I heard the front door open and slam, my entire body beginning to tense up once again as I began breathing heavily. I closed my eyes tightly and tried to shrink into the couch, expecting a slap across the face or something. Instead, I felt arms thrown around me, nearly pulling me off the couch. 

"Are you okay, Flynn?" 

It was my brother's voice. 

I opened my eyes and saw him, his arms still around me, and his face full of worry. I started crying once again and threw my arms around him as well. 

"What happened?" 

"Binder," I mumbled out. 

"What?" He asked as he pulled away slightly, "Oh. Was that why it happened?" 

I made a so-so motion with my hand. 

"Did she notice it while she was going off and then…" 

I nodded, frustrated that no words were coming out. 

"Wait, where is it now?"

I pointed towards where the television was, indicating I meant it was at home. 

"Fuck, she probably is going to destroy it then. I'll buy you a new one, I'll buy five, I'll buy every kind there is, color, brand, everything."

A small chuckle escaped, "Thanks." 

"Why can't they just accept us?" Bryan asked as he sat next to me. 

"I dunno." 

I glanced at Rodney, "Shouldn't you be going to work?" 

"No, I called out."

"Why, are you okay?" I asked, straightening up. 

"Yeah, but you aren't, bud. So I called out to make sure you're alright."

"What? You didn't have to do that! Why would you…" my head was pounding hard, "why do I feel so shitty." 

"You just went through a traumatic experience, of course, you're going to feel shitty. Also, I'm staying home because I want to make sure you're fine. You do it all the time for me, I have to do the same for you. I am older than you half the time, so." 

I could feel this sense of vulnerability bubbling up in me, as well as a desire to curl up against someone, never leaving their side. If that was how Rodney felt every time he had an episode, I feel bad for him. Because added to all that was a new fear that what just happened would happen again. 

"Can you… can you sit with me?" I asked Rodney. 

"Yeah, sure," he said, sitting on the other side of me, "I'll order you a new binder and get it shipped here. Honestly, just let me-" 

I threw my arms around him, burying my face into his shoulder, "I don't care. I just… I don't want to go back there."

He wrapped an arm around me, "Hey… you're going to be fine. I'll make damn sure that never happens again, alright? If you go back, you are always able to come here if you need to. Even if nobody's home. Or you can call me if you need me, or… anything, I'll do whatever I can for you." 

"Thanks," I mumbled. 

Once I had calmed down a bit, I looked to Bryan, "How'd you know I was here?" 

"Rodney texted Adam and me and I was at the park nearby. Adam should be here sometime soon." 

Speaking of which, the front door opened again and Adam entered the room, kneeling in front of me, "Flynn, you okay?" 

I nodded and got up, causing him to stand up as well. He pulled me into a hug, kissing my forehead, "I got here as quick as I could."

"I'm okay," I said, hugging him back. 

"I'm sorry that happened. But uh, I have something for you. I was going to give it to you for your birthday but. Right now might be a better time." 

He handed me a present which was carefully wrapped, with a tag that had Happy Birthday scratched out and replaced with Cheer Up Present. I unwrapped it and saw that it was in a box with a shipping label on it, meaning it must have been an online order. I opened the box and saw it was a black tank top with paint splatters design on it. 

"You got me a tank top?" I asked. 

"Better than that." 

I stared at the clothing in my hands, "Is this a… oh. Oh!" 

I hugged him tightly, "I can't believe you bought me a binder! Holy shit! This must've cost like, a shit ton of money!" 

"It was eighty bucks." 

"Eighty?"

"Yeah, it was one of those Shapeshifters binders on Tumblr that you always mention. It's your exact measurements, you had them written down in my phone from the last time we had to order you one, and I got them to do a custom fabric. Also, it has a zipper on the side in case you need to quickly loosen it. And it makes you happy. It is well worth the money."

I kissed him, "Babe, I love you so much." 

"I love you too." 

"I'm going to try it on right now," I said as I rushed off to the bathroom. 

I pulled the t-shirt off and pulled the binder on, zipping up the side. I looked in the mirror and nearly started crying as I smiled widely. I pulled the shirt back on and went back into the living room, throwing my arms around Adam again. 

"I'm lucky to have you." 

"I'm lucky to have you too. I'll do whatever I have to do to make you happy, Flynn."

Bryan spoke up, "I'm going to go get some stuff from the house, maybe see if I can find your binder if she hasn't already burned it. Neither of us is going back tonight." 

"Please don't get in a fight with her, we don't need to both feel terrible," I warned him. 

"No promises," he shouted as he left. 

"I swear to God," I rolled my eyes as I sat back down. 

"Your brother is chaotic," Rodney commented. 

"Don't I know it. Boy gives me a heart attack sometimes."

Half an hour later he came back with two full bags in tow. 

"Did you pack for a week, Jesus Christ."

"Basically. I'm prepared if I want to avoid going back for a while." 

"You've said that for the past eight years."

"One day I'll never have to. Hopefully soon."

"Hopefully." 

That night rolled around, with the kids getting back from hanging out with friends and Elizabeth getting back from work. Bryan ended up playing Minecraft with the kids while Rodney prepared dinner. Adam and I were left in the living room with Elizabeth, who was texting someone. 

"Oh my God," she muttered out. 

"What's wrong?" Adam asked. 

She looked up from her phone and sighed, "I told my parents I couldn't go up there because I have to be here in case something goes wrong at work since all these kids want to not come in. So now instead they are coming down here, as well as my brother." 

"Oh. Where are they going to stay?" 

"Oh not here, that's for sure. Some hotel nearby, I'm not worried about that. I'm worried about the fact that we weren't really going to do anything and now we have to. This is so last minute, I don't have anything." 

I spoke up, "We can go get stuff, I'm sure we can find something. And Bryan and I can get it all set up, we've done it so many times before." 

"You don't have to, I can figure it out." 

"No, it's fine. Least we can do staying here." 

"Oh, thank you so much. Let me go figure out what we'll need," she said as she got up, heading into the kitchen. 

Adam nudged me, "What just happened?"

"I think I just signed myself up for making Thanksgiving dinner," I mumbled. 

"And Bryan."

"Bry's gonna kill me." 

Lo and behold, the next day came and Bryan and I were up, preparing food. 

"I cannot believe you signed me up for this," Bryan mumbled out. 

"It's really not that much, Bry. Since it's the least we-"

"We can do because we're staying in their house for a few days, yeah yeah, I know you already said that shit. What about Adam and Harry? They can't spare some help?" 

"Harry worked a long ass shift yesterday, which is why Adam couldn't stay the night because he had to go pick him up. And Adam has to wait for Harry to be ready to come over because Harry will be joining us."

"Ugh. Whatever."

I rolled my eyes and continued preparing the dinner in silence as Bryan continued to whine about it. 

"Do you guys need help?" Rodney asked as he entered the kitchen an hour later.

"Oh, no thank you, kind sir, we got it all. You can just go and lie around like a king and wait to be served," Bryan shot back. 

"Excuse him, he's grumpy he isn't sleeping right now," I explained, "We got it though."

"You know, you two really didn't need to do this. I could've just as easily have done all of it. I don't know why she's so worried, she acts like she hasn't seen them in forever so this has to be so impressive for them."

"Maybe she hasn't," Bryan mumbled out, going to the sink to wash his hands off.

"She just saw them a few months ago, so, no. Anyways, it would've been fine."

"Are you sure it would've been? How are you doing today anyway, you know, since it's kind of one of your days," I asked.

"I'm doing okay, for now. As for how I'll be later today? No idea, but if I start feeling off, I'll let one of you guys know and we'll handle it from there."

"Okay, don't hesitate to let us know, okay?"

Once Bryan and I were done for the most part with preparing dinner, we lied down on the couches in the living room, watching the parade.

"Remember that one year when mom had made the pie the night before, so in the very early morning we got up and tried to eat the entire thing?" Bryan asked me. 

I chuckled, "No, I specifically remember you wanting to eat it and making me help you because you couldn't reach it by yourself."

"Hey, you ate some too."

"It was my fee for helping out."

He scoffed, "Whatever. Then we put it back as if we hadn't eaten half of it already and mom ended up getting mad and blamed her cousin's kids because they were staying with us."

"Oh, God, those kids must hate us."

"Hey, they were kind of dickheads, they deserved it. The older one wouldn't let you play with us and I had to throw a fit to get him to let you."

"Ah, yes, sexism in children. Always fun."

We continued reminiscing on our childhood as we waited for the day to begin. The kids ended up waking up and taking over the living room television and shortly after Elizabeth was up, trying to make sure everything was set up for the day. By one o'clock, everyone else had arrived and we were being introduced to Elizabeth's family. 

"And you've met Adam and Harry before right? They're Rodney's cousins. And these two are Adam's friends, Flynn and Bryan," she said, gesturing to us to her family, "they've decided to join us because their parents aren't really doing anything today and they live right next door so we just figured we'd invite them over. Oh! Flynn, Bryan, meet my parents, Anna and Diego, and my brother, Juan."

"Uh, hello," I said, waving to them. 

"Friends?" Bryan asked, scoffing, "Uh, I think that one of us-"

I cut him off, faking a laugh, "I'm friends with Adam, Bryan just tolerates him. Don't make the mistake of trying to call those two friends, aha."

Elizabeth shortly led them away to find the kids, Bryan glaring at me.

"You're just gonna pretend you two are only friends?" Bryan asked me.

"Yes, because clearly, she did it for a reason, I'm not risking shit right now. I just had a bad experience with bigots, I don't need bad experiences with people I don't know."

Bryan rolled his eyes, "Whatever."

We ended up hanging out outside, with the kids off playing, with Elizabeth's parents watching them as Sage had insisted they had to watch her do some soccer trick. Rodney, Harry, and Adam were reminiscing on their own Thanksgiving experiences, currently in the middle of talking about one that went south because of Adam's grandma. Juan and Elizabeth were nowhere to be seen.

"Hey, Flynn, can you come with me? I need your help making something," Bryan said to me.

"What do you need help with?" I asked.

"Can you just come?" he said through gritted teeth.

"Okay, okay."

We headed inside and before I could ask what was up, he put his finger to his lips to shush me. I rolled my eyes but soon overheard a conversation going on. 

"... leave him already, Eliza. Clearly isn't worth much, I mean, c'mon, you did all the work, no?"

"I know, I know. I will, soon. Don't want to rush it with Leo, though, need to make sure he'll be good, after all."

"I think you've found he is, with all the time you spend with him. I told you, my boy's wonderful for you."

I glared at Bryan, whispering, "How did you know?"

"Shut up," he whispered back.

"... for the kids?" Juan was asking Elizabeth.

"Oh, he's wonderful, you saw. Really has that parental nature already, very stern. We were out to eat and Dylan started his little fit over not wanting to finish, and he stopped that shit real quick. Love that."

Bryan shook his head and opened the back door before slamming it behind us. He nudged me forward and started walking forward as well.

"Oh, there you two are. I was wondering where you guys ran off to. I just wanted to make sure that my brother and I made enough for everyone, have you had a second to check on everything we made so far?" Bryan asked Elizabeth.

"Uh, yeah, I was just checking on it now with Juan. I think it'll be plenty, thank you," she responded, looking displeased at the interruption. 

"Okay, I'm glad. We really put a lot of work into it, we want to make sure it's good enough for your family. I really do appreciate, by the way, that your husband and you are letting Flynn and me stay here with everything going on at home. Rodney is really so nice, maybe a little too good for you, huh?" 

I nervously chuckled, "Bryan, c'mon, they're perfect for each other. Let's go back outside and see what everyone else is doing, okay?"

He shot me a glare but followed me back outside. 

"How the fuck did you know that was going on?" I asked Bryan once we were on the back porch.

"I saw them over here, talking about something, then suddenly Elizabeth was suggesting they go inside. I knew they were talking about something iffy and I'm sorry, I don't trust that with everything else going on today. I didn't know it was going to be that but I knew it was something."

"What… what do we do?"

"I… I don't know."

"Do about what?" we were asked. I looked to the source and saw it was Sage.

"Uh, about dessert, we only have one pie. But actually, I think we'll be fine, we don't really care for desserts anyways or pie so. We're good," I said, faking a smile. 

She stared at me, "Uh, okay. Have you seen my mom? I wanna show her my trick."

"She's uh, she's just talking about some grown-up stuff with your uncle inside I think."

Sage's face turned up at that, "Oh. Like about…"

Bryan spoke up, "Just talking about some houses he saw on the way here that looked messed up from the hurricane last month, that's all. Really boring stuff, nearly fell asleep hearing it before I could ask about dinner. 'Oh my gosh, there was like tarps everywhere and roof pieces here and there. Wow, there was still a tree that had fallen over in someone's yard. Wow, it was wild.' Like, not that exciting man."

Sage had slightly smirked at Bryan's impression, "Oh, okay. If you see her, can you tell her to come find me? I really wanna show her it."

"Yeah, of course, kid, you got it."

"Thank you!" she exclaimed, running back to where her siblings were. 

Bryan and I glanced at each other, "She knows."

We sighed as we headed back to the table. Adam and Harry were off with the kids while Elizabeth's parents were sitting down, as well and Rodney still who was scrolling through something on his phone. We sat down with them, Bryan starting up small talk with them. He began going on some tangent about school which led to him telling them some wild story he did not need to be telling. I saw Elizabeth and Juan come outside somewhere in the middle of the story, Sage running up to them and dragging them away. I tuned back into Byan's story after a while, surprised he was still going.

"... and so I say to him 'hey that's pretty rude to be doing' and you know what he does? Straight punch to the face! Like woah buddy, let's take it down a notch."

I glared at him, "What the hell are you going on about?"

"How that one kid with the fake rainbow fox tail got all up in my business last year." 

I looked to Elizabeth's parents, "I am so sorry about my brother, he rambles on about stupid stuff sometimes. So, uh, Alex was telling me that you guys went and visited Mexico earlier this year? How was it there?"

"Oh, yeah, about that, when did you guys go?" Bryan asked, smirking. 

I shot a glare at him, "Bryan. That's unimportant, I'm sorry."

Elizabeth's mom shook her head, "No it's fine. We left at the end of July, we were going to go earlier but then Elizabeth was visiting so we bumped it up to later in the month."

"Oh, that makes sense, yeah, he was telling us you guys go for a few months, that's cool. Get to visit your family there and actually enjoy your time rather than trying to smash all your visits and entertainment into just a short amount of time."

"Yeah, it's really nice, we enjoy going."

Rodney looked up from his phone, glaring at Bryan and me, "Hey, you know what, we forgot to make that pie I told you guys about that my aunt always makes. C'mon, I'll show you guys how to make it."

"I'm tired of cooking," Bryan whined.

I stood up and grabbed his arm, "C'mon, it's not going to kill you."

"But you might, Jesus Christ," Bryan exclaimed as he pulled away from me, standing up. 

The three of us headed inside, with Rodney being the last one in, slamming the door behind him.

"What is going on?" Rodney asked. 

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"I mean, okay, what the hell. My wife's parents went to Mexico and I'm finding this out not from her, but from you two making small talk with her parents? And Bryan, what was asking them about when they left about? Do you two know something I don't?"

"What, no, clearly not. You just heard it yourself, they went to Mexico after Elizabeth had visited," I answered.

"Why were you two worried about it, to begin with? What did Alex tell you?"

"He just told us that her parents go to Mexico so during the hurricane there's no way she was with them if she was in Alabama, but she explained there and then that she was with a friend and checking up on their house. Bryan is just trying to stir up drama, you've seen how he is."

Bryan rolled his eyes, "I'm not trying to do anything-"

"Okay, well, pro-tip, don't try and meddle into things I don't even know about okay? And if you're going to, fucking tell me. What if something serious was going on, you wouldn't tell me? And don't try and start drama with my wife's family, you know how badly I'm going to get chewed out for this?"

"Well, hey, she better not, I cooked her flippin' dinner," Bryan snapped, "also you know that-"

Rodney took a deep breath and cut him off, "Can you just… promise you're not going to start any more shit up? I'd like to not get my head cut off by her over you two making up drama."

Bryan glared at him and shook his head, "Fine then, 'dad.'"

"Don't ever compare me to your dad. C'mon, we got to go bullshit a pie now."

As we were heading to the kitchen, I asked him if he was alright. 

"No, Flynn. I'm not. But I have to be now or else they're really going to think something's super off. Also, newsflash, Elizabeth doesn't even know we went to Alex's for the hurricane, so now she's also going to ask how you two met him and know all that if she overheard that or her parent's tell her. Fuck!"

"Hey, I'm… I'm sorry, I couldn't think of anything else to say and Bry was rambling on about God knows what and I'm just still in a weird feeling from yesterday and I didn't want him to keep going and end up saying something that made one of you guys go off on us too and end up making us go back to our place and…" my voice trailed off as I felt light-headed.

"Hey, hey, Flynn," I heard him say but it sounded so distant as my eyes began blurring. Moments later, or at least that's what it felt like, I was sitting on the ground and he was kneeling down in front of me.

"What… Woah," I mumbled out as everything came back into focus.

"You good?" he asked, holding out a water bottle for me.

"Uh, yeah, I… I'm fine, I don't know what just happened," I responded, taking a sip of water.

"You're panicking, that's what happened. Look, it's fine, you're not going to do anything wrong. If you two say something that upsets them, oh well, I'm not going to let them hurt you guys. I'm not going to make you two go home until you're ready to either. I know how it is, I would never force someone back into that."

I noticed the look in his eyes he only ever got when he was on the brink of regression. His eyes were starting to droop as well as the rest of his body.

"Hey, are you okay?" I asked, straightening up, "Are you…"

He shook his head, still looking tired, "I'll be fine, I have to… push it away, this can't happen, not today, not right now. It's a… very bad time, please don't try and push me on it."

I sighed, dropping my shoulders, "Fine. What can I do to help make it so you don't right now?"

"Lord if I know."

Bryan spoke up, "We can't make another pie anyways, we don't have any more pans for it."

"Fuck. Okay, um… let's just… let's go to the store, grab one. Maybe I can push away this shit if I'm out shopping."

"Are you sure?" I asked.

He nodded, standing up, "Yeah, it'll be fine."

"Alright, if you're sure," I said as I got up off the floor.

"I'll go let Elizabeth know we'll be back, you two are coming with, I'm not having you two trying to stir up more shit."

He headed outside while Bryan glanced at me, "Are we supposed to tell him after that?" 

"I suppose so, but. I don't know. I can't tell him now, it'll ruin the entire night and he probably won't even believe me and we don't even know all the facts."

"Well after that, I really don't want to say shit. Clearly, he doesn't care."

"He's just stressed, I would be too if I was with her. Since he's on the verge of regression, he gets grumpy like that. This isn't going to be good."

Bryan sighed, "Fine, what do we do about that then? Forget Elizabeth's shit, we can handle that later. What do we do about Rodney and his regression? He can't be here if it happens, that will freak out not only her but her parents and… Forgive me if I'm wrong, but that will make her run away faster and might ruin his chances of ever seeing his kids again."

"You're right. But I don't know. It's going to be suspicious if we just can't come back for some reason."

"I guess we'll cross that bridge when we come to it," he said as Rodney was heading back inside. 

"What are you two going on about now?" Rodney asked. 

"Jeez, you sound just like my dad, uh, worrying about you and you know. What if you get triggered at Publix? What are we supposed to do? We can't come back here."

Rodney held up a key in his hand, "Took it from Harry in case, we can go there. Just… make up some lie about how, I, uh, threw up in Publix maybe? Don't want to go back because I'd just be 'bringing down the party' but I'll try to be back before nightfall? And just try and get me to come back to normal. But I think I'll be fine."

Spoiler alert, wrong. We weren't in Publix for more than two minutes and he ended up regressing. I dug my phone out my pocket, calling up Adam. 

"Hey, can you tell Elizabeth we aren't coming back because… Rodney apparently threw up and so we're going to take him to your place so he can rest and not bring down everyone else?"

"Did he… you know."

"Yup. We got it handled though and we have a key to your guys' place."

"Alright, let me know if you need anything. Are you guys going to end up coming back at any point or is it really bad?"

"I think we might be able to, he's…" I looked to where Bryan and he were, talking about which sweets they should get, "doing alright, doesn't seem upset. I think he just stressed himself out too much. Give it a few hours, we'll come back and probably eat leftovers."

"Alright then. See you later then. I love you."

"I love you too, bye."

I hung up and headed over to Bryan and Rodney. 

"But there's more in there!" Rodney exclaimed to Bryan. 

"Yes, but, hear me out, we get the smaller one and we can convince Flynn to let us get another package of something else. Ooh, we could even try and convince him to let us get an ice cream cake, they got a small enough one."

"Ooh! Yeah!"

I chuckled, "We're not here to get a bunch of sweets. We are picking up one pie and that's it."

"Why bother with the pie if we're not going back, hm?"

"Because we are, once he goes back to normal. We'll keep it in the fridge at Harry and Adam's."

"Just one pie though? Not even cookies or anything?" Bryan asked, frowning.

Rodney tugged on my shirt, "Please, can we get cookies?"

I looked down at his puppy dog eyes and pout, "Fine. One package of cookies. One."

Rodney squealed and grabbed at a package of cookies, smiling as he held them carefully in his hands. I shook my head and went to find a pre-made pie. Once we had found a pie, which was just an apple pie, we went to check out. Rodney was still holding onto the cookies as if his life depended on them. 

"You got to let go so we can get them checked out, bud," I said, putting my hand out for the package. 

He looked up at me, a frown beginning to form as he handed them to me. I put them on the conveyor belt and picked him up, setting him on my hip. 

"See, she's just going to scan them and then put them in a bag and you can carry the bag if you want. They're not going anywhere."

As I said, the cashier scanned the package and placed them in the bag with the pie, handing the bag to us. I held the bag out to Rodney, placing my hand underneath it to make sure he didn't drop it.

"Thank you," he said to the lady, a bit of his smile coming back. 

"Aw, you're welcome, sweetheart. I hope you're having a good Thanksgiving."

"Mhm, Bry helped me get the cookies," he said, pointing to Bryan. 

Bryan smirked, "I did what I must as his uncle, of course. Convince his fun-hating dad to let him have some sweets."

I rolled my eyes and shook my head as I swiped my card, "I don't… Excuse my brother, he's always like this. Thank you for your help, have a great day."

She handed me my receipt, "It's alright, you all have a great day as well."

We headed out to the car as I got on Bryan's case for the probably fifth time that day, "Did you have to do that?"

"Yes, I am his uncle figure and you are his father figure. I didn't want her to assume stuff either, so. The kid had to point me out."

"I… we're clearly brothers, we're clearly not older than eighteen, especially me, we could just be his older brothers!"

"Sorry, you're his dad now, I don't make the rules."

"I'm going to suffocate you with a pillow in your sleep, I swear to God," I mumbled out as we got to the car. I helped Rodney into his car seat, having him set the bag on the seat next to him.

"Bryan, you get to drive since you wanna be an ass," I said, throwing him the keys. 

"You trust me to drive?" Bryan asked.

I pondered that for a few moments before putting my hand out, "Nevermind, gimme the keys back."

"Well now I am, fuck you," he said as he got into the driver's seat, leaving me to sigh and get into the passenger's side. 

The ride to Adam and Harry's was actually surprisingly calm. We got there and Bryan went to unlock the door while I helped Rodney out of the car. He insisted on carrying the bag inside, so I let him after making sure he wouldn't drop it. Once we were inside, I took the cookies out of the bag and put them on the coffee table and took the pie into the kitchen, placing it in the fridge.

"So, what shall we do? There's nothing really here now that I think about it," I asked as I went back into the living room, Rodney and Bryan already sitting on the couch, having broken into the cookies.

"Show?" Rodney asked, pointing to the television.

"Okay, what show?"

"Uh, Paw Patrol! If they have it."

I grabbed the remote and searched up Paw Patrol and clicked on the first episode that showed up. I sat down next to them and stole a cookie.

"So which one is your favorite?" Bryan asked Rodney. 

"Hmm, Marshall."

"Good, we don't support pigs in this household, like Chase."

"Chase is a dog," Rodney explained slowly, not understanding what Bryan meant obviously.

"I know."

Rodney just went silent, going back to watch the show in confusion. He ended up leaning against me midway through our second episode, fidgeting with the bottom of my shirt. I smiled a bit and wrapped my arm around him.

"You like this show, huh?"

"Mhm, it's cool."

"That's cool. I'll have to make sure it's recording back at the house for you so we can watch it more often."

"Yeah! That'll be cool!"

"Good, I'll make sure to."

Bryan smirked, "See, you're like his dad."

"Didn't ask but thank you for your useless input." 

For a good hour, it was calm. We were just watching Paw Patrol while eating cookies, Rodney sometimes talking about what was going on in the show and explaining characters to us.

"And she's the mayor, but she's kind of… not good at her job," he was explaining.

"Oh wow, that's not good," I responded. 

My phone began ringing so I pulled it out, answering it. Rodney let go of me, scooting away a bit as I sat up more straight noticing who it was.

"Hey Elizabeth, what's up?"

"Where are you guys?"

"Uh, at Adam and Harry's, did Adam not tell you?"

"He did, I just don't see why. What, Rodney can't come back over a little stomach bug, really? You expect me to believe that? Jesus Christ, if that's true then he really is… Look, I know you don't really get it, since you clearly have a weird relationship with your parents, but normal people spend time with their in-laws when they're in town. So my husband should be here, not over there, no matter if he 'threw up' or not. Also, where the hell is his phone because he hasn't been answering it."

"Uh, I think he left it there, um. Look, I'll get him to call you back but he's currently in the bathroom-"

The phone was snatched from my hands and I realized Rodney had turned back, "Hey, I'm so sorry, we were actually about to leave. I'm sorry, I just didn't want to be there sick every other minute so we came here so I could get some stuff to stop it and make sure I was fine. We'll be right there."

I couldn't quite make out her response but he hung up on her shortly after. He sighed and handed the phone back to me.

"Are you-"

"Nope but oh well, we have to go back, or else she'll murder me or show up here so, either way, I cannot let this happen any longer for today," he said as he got up.

"Rodney, no, you can stand up to her and say no-"

"She's not going to let you guys stay any longer if we don't go back there right now. I'm not putting you two at risk over this shit, not until I know it's safe for you two to go back. That's what she just said to me, in case you were wondering."

Bryan stared at me before looking at Rodney, "Rodney, we have something to tell-"

"Nope, don't care. Let's go, please."

He was already on his way out the door and I shrugged to Bryan, "Later. C'mon, let's just go. I'll get the pie."

"Jesus," Bryan mumbled. 

Half an hour later, we were finally back at the house. Elizabeth made some snide comment on our way in that I ignored, heading straight to the backyard, where Adam and Harry were with the kids. 

"Is everything okay?" Adam asked me. 

Sage came up to me, "Is he okay?"

"Yeah, of course, he is, he just ate something bad, is all," I answered. 

"No. Not that. I know why you guys were gone. Is he okay?" 

"Yeah, he's okay. It'll be okay, you know that right? We'll always be here to make sure of it. And he has a handle on it, he'll always be okay when we're around."

She nodded, "Okay. Promise you'll always be around?"

I put my pinkie out, "Of course."

She wrapped her pinkie around mine, smiling. 

"Hey kiddo," Rodney shouted over to her as he approached, "your mom just told me you showed her some cool trick? Why haven't I seen it?"

"'Cause you were busy, duh!" she shouted back.

He got up to us and ruffled her hair, "Well, you could've interrupted, c'mon. What kind of trick can you do with a soccer ball anyways and where did you learn it?"

"Lily showed it to me! Hold on, I gotta get a ball," she said as she ran off to get one. 

"Her and that Lily, huh?" I asked.

"Ah, yes, she's head over heels over the girl. Always wanting to hang out with her. She may or may not have," he paused as he looked around before finishing off, "called her her girlfriend the other day. She may have just meant it as a friend who's a girl, but still, it's cute. I hope they get to be friends forever."

"Yeah, that'd be cute," I said.

"So, how are you feeling?" Adam asked.

Rodney shrugged, "I'll be fine. I promise."

"Dad!" Sage shouted. 

"Coming!" he shouted back, walking off towards her, where she started to show him some tricks. 

I smiled at the sight before looking at Adam, "Adam, uh. I think Elizabeth may be cheating on him."

"What?"

  
  



	9. She's So Mean

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger Warnings: Arguing, controlling people, abusive parents, slight food mentions, misgendering, sneaking in, cheating, breaking up/implied divorce, ableism, physical fighting slightly, hints of transphobia and homophobia

_ "What?"  _

Bryan and I had explained to Adam as well as we could of what we had encountered but ended up not being able to finish because everyone else was trying to involve us in their stuff. The rest of the day had gone by without much drama, as well as the following days, thankfully. I sometimes think we were being given a break before all hell would eventually break loose.

It started off just a few days prior to our birthday, as Bryan and I were sitting in the living room with the kids, watching a movie and eating pizza while Elizabeth and Rodney were on a date. Neither one of us was really paying much attention to the movie, as Bryan was texting someone with a goofy smile on his face, while I was scrolling through Tumblr, mostly reblogging posts with long rants nobody bothered to read.

I heard Dylan ask Sage a question, "Is she doing what mommy does?"

Bryan had turned his attention to them before me, staring at the television. He gave me a kick to get my attention, shushing me before I could snap at him, gesturing to the kids.

"What do you mean?" Sage replied, staring at Dylan.

"Well, she's with someone that's not the dad. Like mommy is."

"What are you talking about?" Sage asked as she put her finger to her lips to shush him. 

"But Sage-"

"I don't know what you mean, hey, look! He has a toy like you do, isn't that cool?" she said, pointing at the television, looking relieved when Dylan's attention was turned back to the television. 

Bryan looked back at me, mouthing, "We have to do something."

I shook my head and whispered, "Bry, it's nothing we need to get involved with."

"I think we do, it's only going to get worse."

"What do we do, huh? Look it's better if we stay quiet about it."

"But Flynn-"

Sage interrupted us, "What are you guys talking about?"

"Just some… high school drama, nothing to worry about," I answered. 

She stared at both of us, "Okay, well, I think Flynn's right. Best to stay outta it."

Bryan sighed, "But, we know something about… our friends, that will really hurt one of them if they find out and we know they will. Wouldn't it be better to warn them?"

"No! I mean… it's their problem, it'll be taken care of."

"Yeah," I said, "it's not our problem, it's not our place to get into it."

"I think we've already inserted ourselves in the problem. And are you serious? That's strong coming from someone who inserted themselves in other problems of theirs."

"Oh, I'm sorry, was I just supposed to ignore it? Pretend I didn't see what was going on? Seriously?"

"But you'll ignore this, right? Why's it any different-"

"Because we have enough going on already with our own parents!"

"You don't even know the half of the shit we have going on-"

All of us fell silent and still as the front door suddenly opened up, Rodney entering the room. He glanced at us, noticing that we were all kind of frozen in our spots. 

"Are you guys okay?"

"Yeah, just peachy," Bryan said, shaking himself off as he got up and walked to the backroom.

Rodney gave me a concerned glance but I shook my head, "It's nothing, he's just being edgy, nothing to worry about. How was dinner?"

He opened his mouth to answer before Elizabeth entered the room as well, answering for him, "It took forever just to get our food. I don't know what was going on, it wasn't even that busy! And the food wasn't even that good. That's the last time we ever go there, honestly."

Rodney subtly rolled his eyes, "Anyways, how was it here?"

"It's been chill, we had pizza and have been watching this movie is basically it."

"That's good, I'm glad."

Both of them headed off to the bedroom as Sage got up, sitting down on the couch next to me. I noticed that her face was full of worry as she fiddled with the bottom of her shirt.

"Please, don't do anything, it'll just make it worse," she whispered.

"I won't. It'll be okay, I promise. It's scary, but it'll be okay."

"Make sure Bry doesn't either, I know he wants to."

"I'll try my best, okay?"

Before we could continue speaking, a loud knock on the front door rang through the house. I sighed and got up, heading to answer it but Elizabeth ended up at the door before me. I stood by the back of the couch and tried to look to see who was at the door. 

"Why are you knocking so hard on my door?" she asked, crossing her arms.

"Because I know my children are here," came an answer from a man. I froze up as I realized who it was. 

"Okay, and?"

"I need to see them and bring them back to where they belong, not here with you people."

I heard Bryan coming back into the living room and turned around quickly to stop him from going any further than where I was standing, whispering as quietly as I could, "Dad's here."

Bryan stopped in his tracks, quietly sighing as he stood behind me, listening in with me. 

"Are you going to get my children or not?" my father asked as Elizabeth didn't say anything. 

"Nah, you see, your sons-"

"I only have one son."

"Wow, it's almost like I didn't ask, oh wait, I didn't. Don't interrupt me again, anyways, as I said, your sons are almost eighteen. If they want to go home with you, more power to them, but… I don't really think they want to."

"I do not care what they want to do, I am their father."

"Again, didn't ask, nor do I care. What are you going to do about it, huh? If I don't let you see your sons? Because you're not stepping foot inside this house to find them, and you can't even prove if they are here or not. And even if they are, your son is the babysitter of my children, I just got back from a date, he is allowed to be here. Look, sir, your sons are very intelligent and more than able to make their own decisions. I know if you take any action, they'll figure out how to make it turn around on you. After all… why did one of them end up here, to begin with?"

I turned to Bryan in disbelief of what was happening. 

"What is she doing?" Bryan asked. 

The door to the master bedroom creaked open and Rodney exited, stopping as he noticed the commotion at the door, "Elizabeth, what's going on?"

She gestured to my father, "Just having a chat with Mr. Perry. Unless he wants to take this further and have me claim he's harassing my family and trespassing after all."

Rodney stared at all of us before looking to my father, "What? Uh, hello Mr. Perry, what's the problem here?"

"You two have been allowing my children to stay here and I need them to come back home, right now."

I could tell Rodney was biting back a sigh as he glanced at the three of us, "Mr. Perry, can you just give us one moment, please? My wife and I have just got home and I need to have a talk with her and your children for a moment, okay? I understand how you feel, completely, just give us a moment."

Rodney quickly closed the door, locking it before taking a deep breath. He looked at Elizabeth, "What the fuck… are you… Okay, I-"

"You're the one who let them stay here, to begin with, so don't' you dare turn this around on me."

Bryan crossed his arms, "I'm not going home, sorry, not sorry, he cannot force me to go back to that hellhole."

Rodney sighed deeply, "Bryan, buddy… Your father, forgive me for saying this, sounds like he can unleash hell on us and put you two in a worse situation than you were in prior. You need to go back right now."

I shook my head, "No, I agree with Bryan. I can't go back. Please, talk to him civilly."

"Boys, I cannot do that. Look, it's not going to be safe, it's not going to go well."

"Please," I begged, pressure forming behind my eyes. 

Rodney pinched the bridge of his nose, "Fine, but none of you, and I mean none of you, come out and start shit, okay?"

Bryan threw up his hands, "I'd rather die than talk to that man."

Rodney shot a glare at Elizabeth before opening the door, quickly walking out and shutting it behind him. Bryan and I both snuck closer to the door to listen to what was going on. Both of us sat down next to the door so we wouldn't be spotted. 

"... we can come up with an agreement here," Rodney said. 

"You have no right to have them here!"

"I understand, but they are a few days away from being legal adults-"

"I don't give a shit, they are my children!"

"Sir, I understand-"

"Would you like that? If someone took your children without your consent?"

"Sir. Pardon me, but my children are that, children. Yours are a mere few days away from being adults who therefore can make their own decisions. Now if you would just listen, I can get them to go back with you, if you can assure me that they will have the same abilities they had prior to this whole situation. Therefore, Flynn can still babysit. I will make sure that you and your wife are aware of where they are and when they may have to stay the night."

"And if I don't? They're mine."

There was a long gap of silence and Bryan spoke up.

"He can't possibly be trying to make us go back."

"Shh, I can't hear."

"They're not saying anything, that's why," Elizabeth said, "what is he doing?"

Rodney started talking again, "I'm a mandated reporter, my job requires me that if I see something, I have to legally say something."

Elizabeth crossed her arms, "He works in real estate, that's… that's a lie, he's lying."

"Not the only liar around here," Bryan mumbled and I elbowed him for that.

"One of us should check on the kids," I suggested.

Elizabeth nodded, heading off to the living room, "Shout if you need me."

Bryan and I went back to listening. 

"... you need to assure me that they'll be safe and prove it. I'm not an idiot, I dealt with people worse than you."

"You can't get proof I've done anything wrong."

"People who haven't done shit wrong don't say 'you can't get proof' they say something like 'I haven't done anything wrong.' So, just saying, that's proof enough."

"Give me my children."

"I said I will, you just need to assure me that they will be safe."

"Whatever, yeah."

"They'll come back tomorrow-"

"That was not apart of the-"

"Tomorrow or never," Rodney said as he opened the door, stepping inside, "have a great night, asshole."

He slammed the door and glared at Bryan and me, "I hope you two were satisfied with that show."

"I'm not going back-" Bryan shouted. 

"Then go to your boyfriends, I'm not going to have that man on my doorstep again for you, Bryan," Rodney said as he knelt down, "I have my own children to worry about. I care about you two, I really do. But I cannot do that again. That almost… I need you two to figure it out. Go somewhere else for all I care, but you better make sure your parents know that."

"Wow, guess today is just a day full of bullshit, huh? I wouldn't expect your wife to be more supportive than you," Bryan said as he stood up, "But I guess that's because she really doesn't care if we stay or not."

"Firstly, what the fuck does that mean? Secondly, she was making it worse!"

"You didn't say much different!" Bryan shouted as he stormed off.

Rodney looked at me and I shook my head, "I don't want to talk about it. Thank you."

I stood up and headed to the back room. I passed through the living room, noticing Elizabeth was doing something on her phone while the kids were watching television. I got to the back room and saw Bryan lying facedown on the couch. I sat down in front of the couch, pulling my knees to my chest.

"We're fucked," I mumbled.

"Oh, yeah, for sure. Better start writing up our wills."

I pulled out my phone as I began to text Adam about the events that had happened. 

"'Guess what, babe,'" Bryan mocked, "'my asshole of a father just showed up and got into a fight with your oh-so-wonderful pure-as-hell cousin, who basically told us to fuck off and fend for ourselves. Oh, what a soft, innocent, and misunderstood boy, huh?'"

"Bryan, what are you going on about?"

"Well, you and Adam love to make it seem like Rodney is such an amazing guy, he's oh-so-nice and all that shit. As well as the fact we should have to protect him because he regresses and refuses to get therapy instead. Well, as you can see, clearly he's not the fucking nice."

"He's just stressed, Bryan. He didn't mean to be that harsh."

"Oh, whoop-de-doo, and we're not stressed? Jesus. This is all just… bullshit!"

I sighed as I erased my half-written message to Adam, shoving my phone back into my pocket as I stared at the wall. Bryan continued on with his rant while I zoned out for most of the remainder of the night until we eventually went to sleep. 

The following morning, my shoulder was being shaken as I stirred, taking in the fact that the room was much brighter. Rodney was kneeling down in front of me, his hand on my shoulder. 

"Flynn, your dad's back."

"What time is it?" I mumbled out. 

"Ten in the morning. Bryan already left, I don't know where but I know he told your parents, so."

"Not surprised," I mumbled as I pulled myself up, gathering up my stuff, "Thanks, I guess, for letting us stay here as long as you have. I promise it won't happen again."

"Hey, look, I didn't-"

I cut him off, "I get it. I wouldn't want to deal with it either. You have your own family to worry about. You don't need to worry about us, we're just two dumb kids with too many problems."

"Flynn, I am worried about you guys, I really am. I want what's best for you guys, but, I also need to worry about my own family. That could've gone so bad last night, for everyone."

"Whatever, I get it, okay. Thanks," I said as I made my way through the house and the front door, where my father was waiting. The entire walk back to the house I was chewed out by him about how it was disrespectful for my brother and me to be gone for as long as we had been. I tuned out the entire speech as I headed inside, throwing my stuff in my room and collapsing on my bed. 

The rest of the day was full of either my parents yelling at me for 'running away' or trying to get me to talk to relatives about my birthday, which was the following day. My brother eventually did come home, but he did so by knocking on the window at ten at night, scaring the shit out of me. 

"Are you fuckin' dumb?" I whisper-shouted at him as I opened the window for him, "I nearly had a heart attack."

"Sucks to suck," he said as he climbed through it, throwing his bag on the ground.

"Where did you even go?" I asked as I shut the window once he was through.

"A friend’s. Their parents kicked me out though when I told them what happened last night, they don't want me to be a 'bad influence' or anything so. Here I am, I guess."

"Well, at least tomorrow we'll officially be eighteen."

"Ah, yes, and then what will we do? We're not just going to be able to move out on a whim. Clearly not if our parents pulled this shit now."

"I don't know." 

Bryan nodded and climbed up the ladder, sitting down on his bed, "Well. Happy birthday, here's to another year of absolute bullshit." 

He grabbed the remote to the ceiling fan, flicking off the light, drowning me in the darkness. I sighed and made my way back to my bed, sitting down as well. 

Our birthday came and went with no real excitement either, just full of more terrible behavior and annoying relatives to talk with. A few days later and I received a call from Rodney's coworker again as we were heading to Adam's car. 

"Oh, what now," I mumbled, pulling my phone out of my pocket, seeing the caller ID. I answered it, "Hello?"

"Hey, uh, can you guys come get Rodney? Also, pro-tip, maybe warn a man about what's going on here, because like, wasn't expecting a literal toddler here."

"He never told you?" 

"No, of course not, do you think he likes to share that kind of information with me?" he snapped, sounding out of breath and quite stressed.

I sighed, "Okay, okay, we'll be there soon."

"Thank you!" he exclaimed before hanging up on me. 

I shook my head, "We gotta go get Rodney from work again."

"How fun," Bryan sighed, "are we sure we should be going though? You know, we could be putting his family at risk if we stay at his house."

I rolled my eyes as we got into the car, "Whatever, Bry. C'mon, let's just go."

"I still don't understand what happened with you guys," Adam said.

"Nothing, babe," I answered.

"Just your cousin being a dickhead sometimes," Bryan said. 

Adam sighed and began to drive us to Rodney's workplace. It wasn't long before we got back to Rodney's place after picking him up, Adam being the only one to go inside to get him anyways. As we were pulling into the driveway at Rodney's, Adam cursed.

"Shit, I need to get Harry from work… And also somehow get Rodney's car here, why didn't we think about that earlier? Oh my God. I'll be back soon, you guys go inside."

"Alright, call me if anything happens," I said as I leaned over to give him a kiss on the cheek before getting out of the car.

"That's gay, chief," Bryan commented.

"And so are you," I replied, shutting the car door. 

Bryan opened his door and got out, helping Rodney out as well. We headed inside while Adam backed out of the driveway. 

"Ooh, we should play some Minecraft, I want to replicate what one of my YouTubers did, it's cool, I swear," Bryan said. 

"You and your YouTubers, man," I mumbled.

"You and your Tumblers, man," Bryan shot back with a smirk. 

"Bloggers. It would be bloggers."

"Don't care."

We headed to the backroom, where Bryan setup Minecraft on the Xbox. He looked at Rodney, "Would you like to help me out, buddy?"

Rodney nodded, "Yeah!"

Bryan smiled and handed him a controller, "Alright, I just have to find the video."

Rodney smiled as well, patiently waiting for Bryan to get the video up. I couldn't help but smile as well. Once Bryan had the video up, the two of them began building whatever it was Bryan wanted to remake. After a while, we heard noises from the living room. 

"Do you think Adam's back?" I asked.

"Maybe, want to go check?" Bryan asked. 

I shrugged, "Yeah, let's go."

The three of us got up and headed into the living room, Bryan stopping in his tracks as we made it halfway through the dining room.

"What?" I asked, glaring at him. 

"What are you guys doing here?" I heard a woman say. 

"Uh, hello Elizabeth," Bryan said. 

Rodney quickly hid behind me as Bryan turned to look at me. I looked at Elizabeth and noticed there was a man coming through the front door. 

"Uh, what are you doing here?" I asked, staring at her and the man, "And uh, who's the friend there?"

"Well, seeing as this is my house, you need to answer me first."

"Babysitting?" Bryan answered.

"The kids won't be here until much later, they're all hanging out with friends after school today. And… who's the kid behind you, Flynn?"

"He's… Uh, he's…" 

She approached us, taking a better look at him, "Rodney?"

Bryan chuckled nervously, "Wow, you got us, anyways, what's up with the dude, huh?"

"It is Rodney?!" Elizabeth exclaimed, looking at Bryan. 

"Is that really that important, right now? Why… Why are you bringing some random dude in your… house, holy shit, you… This is Leo, ain't it?"

Her face drained, "How… How do you…"

Bryan began laughing while I stood there, in complete shock. 

"You really… Wow, you really brought him here! Wow! This is just like the soap operas, wow."

Rodney tugged on my shirt, "I… I don't feel good."

I looked down at him and noticed him holding his hand to his head. I gestured for him to leave the room, realizing that it was very possible he was about to switch back.

"Do you want to explain that, Flynn?" Elizabeth asked me. 

"Not really, no," I answered honestly. 

"Flynn. Tell me."

Bryan interrupted, "I'd like us to make a turn back to the fact that Elizabeth here has brought her… 'friends with benefits' to her house, where her husband and children live, if we may."

She turned to Leo, "Can you give us a moment, please? We can just go somewhere else, just…. Give me a moment alone."

He rolled his eyes but headed outside. Elizabeth looked at Bryan again, crossing her arms over her chest.

"You want to go there, Bryan? Do you want to explain why you're constantly hanging out with Harry? Because I know you are."

Bryan narrowed his eyes, "So what? I'm not cheating on anybody, like you are."

"Oh, but you are lying. Be a shame if the wrong people found out."

Bryan pinched the bridge of his nose, "This is just getting more like the soap operas, I'm tired of this. I don't care anymore. Go ahead. Rodney already knows now."

"No, he doesn't. You think… You think I'm that dumb? He can't remember shit to save his life. He's not going to know. And he won't. And even if he does, it's not going to do anything. I'm leaving him regardless."

"You're doing what?" We heard from the archway into the dining area. 

"Flynn, if we do not leave this soap opera shit soon," Bryan whispered to me, which I nudged him in response. 

"Oh, hello Rodney, you want to explain what the fuck was up with that?" Elizabeth asked.

"Do you want to explain what you just said, first? You're… You're leaving me?"

"Well, yeah, after seeing that? What the hell is wrong with you? You know, I knew you were… weird, but that? Really? Why would you do that?"

"I… Because, it was the best option-"

"For your creepy shit? Are you kidding me? You know, I've told you before to keep your shit away from my children, and what have you done? And you've dragged some teens into it too, wow."

"It's not like that, Eliza-"

"Oh, bullshit, I'm not an idiot, Rodney."

Bryan snorted, covering his mouth to stifle any laughter as I turned to glare at him. Rodney and Elizabeth turned to both of us. 

"Can you two leave?" Elizabeth said to us.

"Yeah, let us… let us talk about this in private," Rodney said.

"Are you going to be okay?" I asked.

"He'll be fine," Elizabeth snapped.

Rodney nodded, "I'll be fine, just… go, please."

I grabbed hold of Bryan's arm and dragged him outside. We noticed that Leo wasn't outside and figured he had left. Bryan and I sat down on the steps to the porch. 

"This isn't going to go well," I mumbled.

"No shit."

Adam pulled up in Rodney's car, parking it, and walking up to us, "Why are you guys out here?"

"Elizabeth came home. With her boyfriend," I answered. 

"Rodney and Elizabeth are probably signing the divorce papers as we talk," Bryan said.

"So, where's her boyfriend then?"

"Don't know, he probably ran for the hills."

I rolled my eyes, "He probably just decided to take a drive or something while waiting for her to finish talking to Rodney. I wouldn't stick around if I was the person someone was cheating on their partner with, not until they're done talking."

Adam sat down on the ground in front of us, "Let's never find out how you would actually be, okay?"

"No promises," I replied, smirking.

Adam glared at me, letting out a deep sigh, "And yet, if Bryan made that joke, you'd be so annoyed with it."

"Because he is annoying and I am not."

Bryan snorted, covering his mouth quickly to stifle more laughter, "You're kidding me, right?"

Behind us was the sound of a door slamming as Bryan and I shot up to look at the cause of the slam. Rodney was shutting the door behind him, his face stained with tears. He noticed us and sighed deeply, crossing his arms. 

"Why are you still here?"

"Are you okay?" Bryan asked, softly. 

"Do I look okay?"

Adam stood up, "What happened?"

Rodney sighed and pushed past us, "I'm not talking about it."

"Rodney, c'mon," Adam said, "you can't just push whatever happened away."

Rodney glared at him and put his hand out, "Give me my keys."

"No."

"Give me my fucking keys before I knock you out for them," Rodney threatened, still holding his hand out as his other hand balled up. 

Adam stared at him, zero fear in his eyes, "No."

In less than a few seconds, Rodney tried to swing at Adam as Adam grabbed a hold of his fist and twisted his arm, shouting out, "Are you kidding me?!"

"Give me my keys!" Rodney shouted, trying to get Adam to let go of him.

"Not until you talk about what just happened!"

Bryan and I glanced at each other, wondering what we should do and if we should intervene. Adam and Rodney continued to argue with each other for a while until Rodney finally broke. 

"She's leaving me, okay! She wants a divorce and she doesn't want me around anymore! She thinks I'm a fucking freak and wants me to be gone for good! Okay?! Now give me the keys!" 

Adam looked at me and threw me the keys, "You're not in a well state to drive, Rodney."

Rodney fell to his knees, burying his face into his hands, mumbling out, "I just want to go home."

"What do you mean?" Adam asked, kneeling down.

"I just… I'm so tired of… everything. I want to be home again."

"Home as in…?"

Rodney glanced up at him, "Anywhere but here."

"We can go back to my place. But you're not driving." 

Rodney sighed, "Fine." 

Adam helped him back up to his feet and led him to the car, Bryan and I following after. Adam motioned to the drivers' door to me. 

"You want me to?" I asked. 

"Yeah, please." 

Bryan sat with me in the front while Adam and Rodney got into the back. I started up the car and made my way out of the driveway and on my way to Adam's place. 

"So, what's gonna happen with you guys?" Bryan asked Rodney. 

"I'm guessing divorce. I don't know, Bry," Rodney mumbled out. 

"Are you… are you gonna be okay?" Bryan asked, turning to face him, "That can't be doing well on your mental state."

"I… I'll be okay, buddy. Don't worry about me, you got enough on your plate."

"Okay. Just. Let me know if there's anything I can do or whatever," Bryan said, turning back to face the front. 

The rest of the ride was silent, and the day slowly passed by with no more big incidents. Rodney simply just sat in the living room, mindlessly watching television as Bryan watched some YouTube videos and Adam and I worked on our homework. 

A few days had passed since the events and it was the last day of school before break and surprisingly, I was able to see the kids one last time before Elizabeth would put her plans into action. Rodney had stayed with Adam the prior few days, and Elizabeth needed to work and so she came to my door after school that day, asking me to watch her kids. 

"You better not pull anything, though, and do not let Rodney near them," she said to me. 

I rolled my eyes, "I don't think he's coming back anytime soon after what you said to him."

"Good."

She headed off to her car while I headed to my room to grab my charger and laptop. Bryan saw me gathering up my stuff.

"Where you going?" he asked from the top bunk, peering over.

"Over there to babysit."

Bryan jumped off the top, "I'm coming with."

"One day you're going to break something doing that."

"Oh well, it's faster than climbing down," he said as he grabbed his own charger. 

We made our way over to the house, entering to the sound of the television already blaring. Dylan and Bella were already captured by whatever was playing on the television while Sage was curled up on the couch, a blanket wrapped around her. 

"What's up, Sage?" Bryan asked, sitting down next to her. 

She glared at him, "What did you do."

"I didn't do anything?"

"Then where did he go!" she exclaimed, "Why else would he leave us? Why?!"

Bryan shot a look at me before looking back at Sage, "Your mother found out what has been going on with him. That's what happened."

She sniffled, "We're leaving soon. She's gonna say we're just going to visit but… we're leaving."

"She… She can't, Bella is his daughter, she can't possibly…"

"Sage, when?" I asked. 

"Tomorrow."

Bryan looked at me, "Flynn, tell me she can't do that. You- You have friends who know the-the laws, she can't do that, can she?"

"I… Bryan, I can't answer that, not… not here."

"Can she?" Sage asked me, "Can she?!"

"She… she could with you and your brother. I don't know, I don't know what Rodney and she have done, I don't know but. If they fought for custody, it's… it's likely she could win especially if she lives in another state. We… we would have to ask Rodney what they have in place already."

"Well, great thing is we can get him over here, hm?" Bryan said, pulling out his phone.

"Hey, no, I told her I wouldn't let Rodney around them."

Bryan stared at me like he wanted to strangle me, "Sage, never repeat this word I'm about to say. Are you fucking kidding me, Flynn? No, no, because she didn't tell me not to and well, I can do as I please, and as I please is bringing their father here so he can at least see them one last time before she rips them away possibly forever. Do you think for a moment he knows what's going to happen anyways? You've… you've been too scared to do shit this entire time and look at what it's done. Congrats."

He clicked something on his screen and I could hear the phone ringing. 

"Hey Rodney, how's it going?... Yeah, no, um, I'm fine but. I need you to come to your house as soon as you can… There's just some stuff we need to discuss… Don't worry, she's not here, I promise… Please, for the love of God, come over… Thank you, God, see you when you get here."

I crossed my arms, "This is going to go bad."

"It's been going bad, Flynn, wake up."

He looked at Sage, "Hey. Look, we're going to get this figured out, okay? We'll do our best. It's not fair what's happening, but we'll handle it."

"I hope so," she mumbled.

Half an hour later the door creaked open. Rodney entered the room, looking at Bryan, "What's up?"

Sage got off the couch and ran over to him, hugging him tightly, "Mom's gonna take us away!"

"What?" he asked, looking down at her, confusion filling his face.

"She's taking us to her friends' house and we're not gonna come back!"

Rodney looked up at Bryan and me, "What?"

"They're leaving tomorrow," Bryan said, "to probably wherever her dude lives."

"And her family, so Alabama," I said.

Rodney sighed deeply, "Oh no."

"Please… Please say you have a way to not let her," Sage begged, looking up at him. 

He knelt down, "I… I'm sorry, I… I don't."

"But, but Bella's your kid, you could at least like… You know! Keep her!" Bryan exclaimed. 

"Bella's too young to… No, I… I can't do much here, I'm sorry. Elizabeth has full custody over Sage and Dylan and… If we get divorced, then Bella too until she's much older."

Bryan shot a glance at me, "Maybe if we would've said something earlier-"

"Shut up," I said through gritted teeth, "just shut up. You could've said something just as easily."

"You wouldn't let me!"

"And that's stopped you before?"

"For fuck sakes, can you admit that you messed up here, dude?"

"Can you stop being so-"

Rodney interrupted, "Can you two just stop making everything about you two?!"

We both stopped and looked back at him. There were tears in his eyes as he sighed deeply, "I don't know what to do and you two fighting doesn't make it better."

"Sorry," both of us apologized.

Rodney sighed and put his hand on Sage's shoulder, "Look, I… I'll try my best to do… anything, okay? I'll try my best."

She threw her arms back around him, "I don't wanna leave!"

"I know, honey," he said, hugging her back, "I'll do what I can."

"Please," she begged, hugging him tightly. The other two came over and Rodney brought them in on the hug.

"I'll do my best, okay? I love you all very much."

The four of them stayed there for a while, hugging each other. Bryan and I excused ourselves into the other room to let them be alone for a little bit.

"If she finds out he was here, she's going to flip," I mentioned. 

"I don't care-"

"I do care, because she'll take it out on those kids, not us, not him, but those poor kids. You want that, Bry? Just so you can be some fuckin' savior?"

Bryan glared at me, "Don't preach to me about what shitty things parents can do, I'm well aware of that. She's a bitch either way, and they need to at least be able to say bye to their dad before they're ripped away from their entire life here. Because you were too much of a coward to fucking tell him much earlier so he could've figured something out. Good job, Flynn, you've done such a great job helping them out. Talking about being a fucking savior, look in the mirror."

He opened the front door and stormed out, slamming the door behind him. I stood there, soaking in what had just happened. I sighed deeply and sat down on the ground, so unbelievably worn out with all the events going on. I sat there in that spot, zoning out as the only noise filling my head was that of the blaring television that was still on.

An hour later, Rodney approached me, crouching to my level, "I'm… I'm going to head out before Elizabeth gets back. Where did Bryan go, anyways?"

"He's pissed at me for not telling you earlier about everything going on. Because we kind of knew about Elizabeth um, y'know, with Leo, since we visited Alex. There were clues before that too but that's when it was kind of all put together."

Rodney sighed and sat down in front of me, "Flynn? Do you think if you two would've told me back then any of that, I'd believe it? It also wouldn't change a thing that's happening. Elizabeth… I mean, let's be honest here, you don't suddenly start cheating and make a plan out of thin air like this. And you don't… you don't not notice what's going on with your own husband. Flynn, I reckon she's known for a while."

"Did… did you know?"

Rodney looked down to the ground, fiddling with thumbs, "I'm not sure what I know or not. It's fuzzy a lot of the time. But… maybe not surprised."

"Oh."

He nodded, "Anyways, this all would've gone south anyways, it… it just is a bad mix of everything this year."

"Yeah. It really has been."

Rodney sighed and got back up, putting his hand out to help me up, "I'm sorry that I've dragged you into our drama."

I shrugged, "I dragged you into mine, it's fair enough. Since I'm dating Adam, it was inevitable to be dragged into the family drama."

"Fair enough." 

He left without saying much else as I headed back to the living room to watch the kids. Sage was curled up on the couch, a blanket wrapped around her. I sat down on the couch in silence. 

Dylan climbed onto the couch and sat down next to me, "Flynn?" 

"Yeah, buddy?" I asked. 

"We'll still see you, right?" 

I let out a rough cough in shock, "Huh, uh, um… I don't know, bud. Maybe? We'll… we'll see, okay? But… I'm sure it'll be fine." 

He gave me a hug, "I hope so." 

Sage glanced over, "It better." 

My heart ached so hard that day. None of what was happening was fair, especially not for the kids. But, alas, shit hit the fan and everyone else had to deal with the consequences. 


	10. Comin' Home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger Warnings: Abandonment, abusive family, food mentions, money talk, dead-naming, hints towards homophobia and transphobia, arguing, swearing, death mention towards the end (as in talk about past events, nothing graphic)

Given the events that happened prior to winter break, not a single one of us was full of the Christmas spirit. But, for some reason, Adam's mother thought she had the perfect cure to our lack of holly jolly feelings. 

"Why don't you guys come up and stay with us for your break?" She suggested while she was on a call with Adam while we were in the car, heading to Rodney's to check on him. He had gone back after Elizabeth had left earlier that morning. Bryan and I even saw the UHaul that morning as we were leaving to go hang out with people. 

"I don't know, mom. Harry won't be able to because he's gotta work through Christmas," Adam answered.

"I understand that, honey, but that doesn't mean you have to stay down there. Since, I'd love to meet your boyfriend that you talk so much about." 

A smirk crossed my face as I looked over at him, noticing his face beginning to turn red. 

"Mom, he can hear you," he mumbled out.

"Oh, hello Flynn! Tell your boyfriend that it's a good idea for you guys to come up and stay with us." 

I rolled my eyes, "Adam, I think it'd be a good idea." 

"You don't need to get on her good side, babe. She already likes you, anyways." 

"He can agree with me if he wants to. Just think about it and talk about it with Rodney. I think at the least it'd be helpful for him, y'know with… everything going on." 

"I'll think about it, okay? No promises though." 

"That's all I ask for. I'll let you go now, love you, sweetie." 

"Love you too, mom." 

He hung up and shook his head, "You can't encourage my mother like that. She already has her favorites on her side all the time."

"Her favorites?"

"Of course, her eldest boys are her favorites. Harry and Rodney always agree with her."

"I doubt that, but okay."

"Okay, most of the time they do. Anyways, I don't know about it. Rodney might not want to and I know Harry can't. Plus, what about your parents? You know how weird they were about your birthday."

"Yeah, I don't know. That was weird though, they're… Weird."

We arrived at the house and took a long look at each other before we got out and headed inside. The air felt stiff as we entered and the entire house looked barren, despite the fact a majority of the furniture remained. It was like you couldn't tell anyone ever lived there, especially not three kids. We didn't see Rodney in the main part of the house so we headed to the bedroom. 

He was sitting down on the bed, the nightstand light filling the room with dim lighting. There was a blanket draped over his shoulders as he had a photo album in his hands. 

"Rodney?" Adam asked, approaching him while I stayed in the doorway so as to not overwhelm Rodney.

Rodney glanced up at Adam as Adam got to his side, "Hey."

"You okay?" Adam asked, gently sitting down next to him.

"Yeah," Rodney mumbled, looking back at the album, "I already miss 'em."

"I know," Adam wrapped his arm gently around Rodney, "I know."

"It's… so fucked up. Who… who does that? Why do some people just… suck in the weirdest way possible."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, look at Flynn's parents. Who does the shit they did? What did they get out of… Whatever. And… who… who just leaves like that? I don't know."

"I… I don't know, to be honest. It doesn't make sense."

Rodney shook his head, "Yeah. Anyways, uh, so, what's the plans for Christmas since… I've got nothing now."

"Um, well… Mom suggested we go up there for my break."

"Harry won't be able to, he has to work on Christmas Eve and Christmas, doesn't he?"

"Yeah, so it'd just be us. She invited Flynn though."

"Is that a good idea given… what happened with his parents earlier last week?"

"I don't know."

Rodney glanced at me and I provided a shrug, "I'd be up to going, if you guys want to. I don't care what my parents think, I'm an adult now. They're not going to fly to Georgia to come yell at me."

Rodney sighed, "I'll think about it."

"I'll try and talk to my parents about it, but I won't be surprised if they say no so, may have to sneak me out."

"Please be safe, I don't need… be safe, please."

"I will."

Rodney looked at Adam, "Make sure he does."

Adam smirked a bit, "I will, trust me. Now, big question time, prepare yourself."

"What?" Rodney asked, a bit of worry on his face.

"What do you want for dinner?"

Rodney rolled his eyes, "Adam, you scared me, God. Um. I don't care, whatever you guys want, I'm not that hungry anyways."

"We could get… nevermind."

"What?"

"Nevermind, it's a bad idea."

Rodney furrowed his brows, "What were you going to suggest?"

"Um, chinese food?"

Rodney's face dropped, "Oh. Yeah, ha, don't know about that. Maybe I'll still get the discount, haha."

"Yeah, uh, not the best place to go. Um, well. Hey, there's Wawa near there and it's near Target, um. I think we have to go shopping anyways since… I'm pretty sure everything got all mixed together and she didn't leave any of your stuff for… young you."

"Shit. Fuck, you're right."

Adam got up, "I'll let you get ready, Flynn and I will be in the living room."

Adam and I headed out to the living room together and sat down, taking in once again how bare everything was. 

"I hope he's going to be okay," Adam mumbled.

"I'm sure he will be. Hopefully," I said, wrapping my arm around Adam, "And we'll be here for him regardless of how bad it gets. And honestly, I think it'd be good for us to go visit your parents, get away from all the drama around here."

"You're going to have a hell of a hard time getting your parents to let you go."

I nodded, "Probably. Probably, yeah, it's going to suck."

He rested his head against me, "Why are our lives so weird?"

"I don't know, babe," I answered as he wrapped his arms around me.

A few minutes passed and we heard a knock against the archway, "Are you lovebirds going to get going sometime soon?"

"We were just waiting on you, your majesty," Adam said, getting up and glaring at Rodney. We all headed out to Adam's car, deciding to take it instead of Rodney's. 

"We can't spend too much though, I swear. I do not have the kind of money to spend hundreds, okay? Target is expensive anyways, why are we going there?"

"They have good stuff there, that's why."

Half an hour later, we were entering Target and Rodney grabbed a cart, "I do not trust you guys in here, I will be keeping track of what we're grabbing."

"Why don't you trust us?" I asked.

"Because you two would buy the entire store if you were able to, that's why."

I threw my hand to my heart, "How dare you assume that?"

"It's not assuming, I know my cousin well, he spent so much the first Christmas you two knew each other for. I can assume you two together would just be even worse."

"He's not wrong," Adam admitted, "we would get a lot."

I sighed, "Fine, okay, we probably would. But we'll keep it down, okay?"

We headed to the kids section, starting off with clothing. Rodney looked mildly disinterested at first, not giving too many opinions as Adam and I looked, aside from on prices. But slowly, he began to look with us and pick out stuff too. 

"Look at this!" I exclaimed, holding up a Minecraft pajama set that had creepers on it, "We have to get this, guys. It's adorable."

Rodney looked at it with a bit of skepticism, "I don't know guys."

"Come on, it's adorable and if we go up north, young you is going to need warm pajamas, either to just lounge in or if he ends up still being around during bedtime."

"Until they disappear, of course."

"Again, they do not disappear-"

"Okay, okay Flynn, I spend thirty dollars on a nice pair of pajamas for…" he took a look around the store, "for… him. Right? Then, shit happens, it's in the abyss for God knows how long. Then I'm wearing minecraft pajamas at a wedding, great look on my caregivers."

"First of all, I'm sure if we've been able to keep it under control for now, we could in the future. Let's say that happens, you go back to normal with the pajamas on, we'll keep a pair of clothes to change you into if we're somewhere where Minecraft pajamas aren't appropriate. We haven't ran into that issue yet, though, and I doubt we will. Especially not at a wedding, who's wedding would it even be?"

He shrugged, "I'm just saying. It's probably not the best use of our money."

"I'm getting it, if you won't."

"Fine, I'll get it."

I smirked as I threw it in the cart, "Good, it's adorable."

"I still don't understand how the clothing thing works," Adam commented.

"Neither do I, I've learned not to question it though."

"One of these days I'll be wearing something of your guys and it'll just be missing until I come back to normal, you realize that right?" Rodney said. 

"I doubt it, but okay."

We continued our shopping, with us ending up grabbing quite a bit of clothing. We grabbed a few long sleeved shirts, as well as short sleeved shirts that were all pretty plain except for a few shirts that had either Paw Patrol or other cute patterns on it. We also grabbed a jacket, and another pair of plain pajamas, as well as a ton of jeans and a few pairs of shorts since it was Florida afterall. Rodney spotted a pair of light-up sneakers as we were looking at shoes.

"Aren't these just cute, they have space ships on it and they light up," he cooed, showing us the pair.

"Yeah, they're nice. Do you want to get them?" I asked.

He gave me a shrug, "They're really cool, honestly. I know I said I didn't want to spend a bunch but…"

"We can chip in if you want to get them."

Adam agreed, "If you think he'll like them, then yeah, let's get them."

Rodney searched for the right size and put it into the cart, "Maybe we should get a cheap pair of plain shoes though, you know, for times where those might not be the best sneakers to wear."

Adam searched around and found a pair, throwing the box into the cart as well, "There. Are we ready to go?"

Rodney was about to answer before his eyes wandered off towards the back of the store, "Maybe we should look at the toy section, seeing as… Well, there's nothing at home for him anymore."

"We can, yeah, grab a few small things."

A few small things was a severe underestimate. The three of us being unleashed into the toy section did not end up with a few small things being grabbed up. Surprisingly, a big amount of it was from Rodney himself, and both Adam and I had thought it was a sign he was starting to slip, but he was showing no signs of it aside from wanting to buy nearly everything. As he was looking at some minecraft LEGO set, I decided to check on him. 

"Rodney, are you doing okay?" I asked.

"What do you mean?" he asked, glancing at me.

"I mean, when we got here you didn't seem interested in spending much, but now you've grabbed quite a bit. Are you…"

"No, I just… figured it'd be nice to get him some stuff is all. We can… I guess say some of it is Christmas gifts and wrap it so if I'm… on Christmas, he has stuff to open."

"You sure you're not-"

"I'm sure. Look, I care too, a lot and would love to also spoil him, he's me for fuck sakes, of course I do. And given the shit going on… I just want him to be happy and have some stuff."

"Okay. As long as you're okay."

"Thank you for your concern."

He grabbed the LEGO set off the shelf and put it into the basket, looking over what else we had already grabbed, "Okay, this should be enough anyways, let's go check out."

We headed to the checkout together, as Rodney began to count up the prices quietly aloud. 

"Do you need us to chip in?" Adam asked. 

"No, I got it." 

"Are you sure? I don't mind it, I swear." 

"No, I got it, you keep your money. Trust me." 

Adam sighed, "Fine. But you're not spending a penny when we're up in Georgia." 

"That's not fair, I'm going to have to pay for something at some point."

"Nope. I'm taking care of it all."

"What if it's a gift for you?" 

"I'll still pay for it." 

Rodney rolled his eyes as he began putting the stuff on the belt, greeting the cashier. I started grabbing stuff and putting it up on the belt as well. 

"Looks like someone is going to have a good Christmas," the cashier commented as we finished getting everything on the belt. 

Rodney pulled out his wallet, nodding, "I know right? I can't bring these two anywhere, they try to spoil the shit outta him." 

Adam rolled his eyes, "Says the one who suggested to go to the toy section and nearly bought the entire section." 

I chuckled, "Hey, hey, he deserves the world. The entirety of Target is a good starting point." 

Rodney shot me a glance before looking back at the cashier, "You'd think it was their nephew and not mine, huh?" 

Adam and I grabbed the bags and started putting them in the cart, deciding to stay quiet as to not accidentally say more than needed. Rodney paid for everything once it was all rang up and thanked the cashier before we headed out. 

The rest of the day went by relatively fine. At some point Adam's mom called Rodney to check on him and managed to convince him to visit as well. Adam had decided he would go, after informing Harry about their mom wanting him to at least visit. All that left was for me to tell my parents I was going to go with Adam and Rodney. 

The following day, I decided it was the best time to try to inform them. Well, moreso, explain the luggage in my hands and backpack on my back as I was heading out the door. 

"Hey, so, I'm going to spend winter break with Adam's family, okay, bye," I announced as I was going to open up the front door.

"Excuse me?" My father asked, getting up and walking over to me, his arms crossed over his chest.

"I'm leaving, to spend the break with his family," I re-explained. 

"Like hell you are, you belong here for the holidays! Not with some… some queer kid’s family." 

I sighed deeply, not in the mood to deal with it, "Thanks for the opinion, anyways, goodbye!" 

I went to open the door until there was a rough tug on my arm as my father tried to pull me back. 

"You cannot just decide to do shit like that, Fiona. Who the hell do you think you are? You know your brother and you are just being so disrespectful lately."

There was a knock on the door as I was about to remark with some sarcastic comment. I managed to get a hold of the handle and open it up as my father finally let go of me. 

"Oh, hello Mr. Perry," Rodney said, looking directly at my father, "How's it going?" 

"Why are you here?" he asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

"I just figured I'd come wish you guys a happy holiday before I head out of town. Make sure everything is going well," he responded, taking a glance at where my father had his hand before glaring at my father again. 

"Everything is, don't worry." 

"No worries here then, oh, do you need me to help with your luggage?" Rodney asked, looking at me. 

"Uh, yeah, sure, thanks," I said, handing him one of the suitcases. 

"Yeah, of course," Rodney said, grabbing a hold of it, "Well, c'mon, let's get it loaded up." 

He looked at my father again, "You guys have a good one. Be safe and all." 

We walked out of the house together as the door behind me shut loudly. 

"You're a fucking idiot," Rodney mumbled as we headed back to his place. 

"How so?" I asked. 

"Because you did it without anyone else there, duh. You could've gotten hurt or some shit, Flynn. You didn't learn from last time?" 

"I can take care of myself," I said, rolling my eyes, "I didn't need your help, I had it handled, y'know." 

"Oh, sure you did," he said, rolling his eyes. 

"How'd you know I was doing it then anyways?" 

"You texted Adam about how long we would be gone so you would know how much to pack. He texted me to check on you."

I opened the door to his house as I dropped my bag and other luggage bag to the ground, "Well I would've been fine."

"Whatever, you're welcome," he said as he put the other one next to where I dumped off the others, "Adam just has to finish something up at home and he'll be here."

I gave him a thumbs up as I sat down on the couch, pulling out my phone. I went to my messages, going to my texts to Bryan, starting to type up a draft.

_ "Hey, if you get home and mom and dad are mad, it's because I'm going to Adam" _

Before I could finish the text I got a call from Adam, "Hey, what's up?"

"Before I leave my house, do you need anything from here?"

"Um, no, I don't think so."

"Okay, because I'm about to head out."

"Oh! Actually, make sure you bring that white jacket, it's much warmer than my own jackets."

"I've told you so many times I'll let you have it, babe."

"No, it's yours. I just like borrowing it."

I could hear the eye roll over the phone, "You 'borrow' it more than I ever have it."

"But it's the fact it's yours that I like it so much."

"Well, don't worry, it's already packed. I know you too well."

"Thanks babe," I said, smiling.

"I'll be there soon, I love you, bye."

"Love you too, bye."

I hung up and promptly got distracted by a notification from Instagram and began scrolling through the app while I waited for Adam to get there. Soon enough, Harry was dropping Adam off. 

"It's sad you won't be able to come with us," Rodney said to Harry.

Harry shrugged, "I'll go visit them soon enough, I wish I could've gotten off but… I mean, hell, how are you getting off the time to go on such short notice?"

Rodney's face turned down a bit, "I requested off in advance, because of… you know, the kids, I, um, I had planned on us being able to go spend some time with Elizabeth's family and my own through the break." 

"Oh." 

Rodney nodded, "Yeah, uh, yeah." 

"Okay, um, that's valid then never mind. Um, yeah, I wish I could but it's impossible for me even if I would've asked well in advance. I don't think I could even get off next Christmas if I asked now."

"I remember those days, could never get time off, it sucked. Well, hopefully you'll get time to go see them or they'll come down some day."

"Hopefully. Well, you guys have fun. Let me know how it goes with grandma and grandpa," Harry said as he headed back to his car.

Rodney's entire expression changed, his eyes widening as he looked between Adam and towards Harry's car, "I don't want to go anymore, nevermind, I'm staying here."

"Too late! You've already said you're going, you cannot disappoint them," Harry shouted, smirking as he got into his car, "Bye! Have fun!"

Rodney looked at Adam, "I am not visiting those people. They are not my family."

"They kind of are, and you surely are visiting them if I must," Adam explained.

"This family is a nightmare," Rodney mumbled. 

I looked at Adam, sure that my face was full of worry, "What's so bad about them?"

Adam and Rodney gave each other a look, before sighing and glancing away. 

"You'll see," Adam said. 

"What's so bad about them, Adam!" I exclaimed. 

"Let's just say, they fit right in with Georgia stereotypes. Somewhat," Rodney explained.

"I am not leaving one set of shitty people to spend time with another set."

"It's fine, it'll only be one day. Karen doesn't like them much either, even though it's her parents," Rodney said, "Now come on, let's get everything packed up and get heading out. We won't get there until late if we don't leave soon."

We gathered up all of our luggage, putting it into the car, double checking the house to make sure we got everything we would need, before getting on the road. Adam convinced Rodney to let him drive, on the off chance something happened to Rodney on the trip up to Georgia. Rodney only agreed if Adam let him ride shotgun, so I was set up in the back seat.

"What's the name of the city again?" I asked as I was looking at maps to see how long our drive was going to be.

"It's Madison, do you want me to send you the address so you can get accurate directions?" Rodney asked. 

"Sure," I said as Rodney grabbed his phone, texting me the address. 

As time went on during our drive, I decided to try and understand more about Adam's family as we drove. 

"So, which grandparents are we worried about?" I asked.

"My mom's, my dad's are still living in Germany, so," Adam explained.

"Oh, oh yeah," I responded, acting as if I was aware of that.

Rodney shook his head as he turned to look at me, "Sometimes he thinks he tells people this information. I know he surely never told you that before."

"Nope, he didn't. I mean, I knew his family was from there but. I thought they all moved here together. Actually, why didn't you originally get placed with your uncle?"

It took me a second to realize what I had just asked and I stumbled over my words, "You don't have to answer if you don't want to, I don't know why I asked that, that was stupid of me."

"No, no it's fine, he moved well after, um, y'know. And my mom didn't really stay in contact and all. So there really wasn't any way for them to know that, well, he existed for me to even go to and y'know it being a whole different country." 

"Oh. Okay, that makes sense. I'm sorry." 

Rodney shrugged, "At least he was here the second time and Karen caught on." 

"Karen caught on?" 

"Yeah, she was the social worker I was assigned to the second time." 

"Oh. Uh, wow." 

He nodded, "Yeah what a coincidence, huh?" 

"Yeah, that is." 

We continued talking about their family and such for a bit, Rodney starting to get quieter as time went on. Adam soon noticed it and pulled over outside of a McDonald's. He turned to look at Rodney.

"You good, Rodney?" 

"Yeah, of course," Rodney mumbled. 

"Okay, if you say so. I'ma go inside and get some food, you want anything?" 

"Chi'ken nuggets," Rodney exclaimed, smiling a bit. 

Adam smiled back before looking at me, "And for you?" 

"Just some nuggets and fries as well." 

"Alright, I'll be right back." 

Sure enough, not long after he left, Rodney turned younger. I got out of the car and walked around the car to the passenger side, picking him up out of the seat. I opened the back door and put him in the car seat, leaving him unbuckled so he could move around freely to eat and such. I decided to stay in the back with him to keep him company for the rest of the ride, so I moved the passenger seat up a bit more so he wasn't kicking the back of it with his feet during the ride. 

Adam came back out with a happy meal in one hand and a bag in another, as well as a drink carrier. I ran around to the other side and got the driver door for him, taking the happy meal and drinks from him. 

"Thanks babe," he said, as he sat down in the driver's seat, placing the bag on the center console. 

I handed Rodney his food and drink then I grabbed Adam's drink out of the carrier and handed it to him before I grabbed my own and put it in the cup holder. Rodney dug into his bag, grabbing out his nuggets, beginning to eat them. 

"Danks Adam!" Rodney exclaimed. 

"You're welcome, kiddo," Adam responded as he pulled my food out of the bag, handing it to me. 

We finished our food relatively quickly before getting back onto the road. Rodney spent most of the ride watching some show, while Adam and I talked a bit. 

When we arrived, we grabbed a few things from the car but not a whole lot, figuring we'd come back for it later. Mostly just our devices are all we grabbed, with the exception of some clothes for Rodney and a few toys for him we brought with us. Adam knocked on the door and shortly afterwards the door swung open. 

"Oh you guys finally made it! Hey!" Adam's mom said, smiling wide as she pulled Adam into a hug, "I've missed you so much!" 

She looked at me, "And it's so good to finally meet you, Flynn. How did your parents take it? I know Adam was telling me he was worried about you and your parents."

"Oh they took it pretty well," I lied. 

She looked at me like she could tell I was lying through my teeth, "Well, I'm glad you still managed to get up here. And who's this you two have brought?" 

She looked down at Rodney. 

"Hi momma!" Rodney said, waving at her. 

"Oh my gosh, I didn't recognize you, sweetie," she said as she picked him up, settling him on her hip, "I forgot, Adam told me about this with you! God, you're such a little cutie." 

Rodney's face started to burn up as he buried it into her shoulder. 

"Aw, sweetie, c'mon, let's get inside. You wanna take a guess what we're having for dinner?" 

"'paghetti?" Rodney asked, lifting his head off her shoulder a bit.

"How'd you guess?" she asked, smiling at him. 

"'cause yours always good!" 

Karen smiled at him, "Well, thank you, baby."

She carried him off into the kitchen to show him what else she was making for dinner as Adam and I put our stuff down in the living room. 

"I think he's been stolen from us," I commented as I heard Karen talking with Rodney.

"She loves him a ton, I'm not surprised."

Adam and I sat together on the couch and decided to watch television for a bit while relaxing, both of us finally glad to be out of the car. We sat there for a while, with me zoning off for a bit, not completely interested in what was going on in the show playing. I was pulled out of it by the sound of someone new talking in the room. 

"You two made it safely then, I'm glad to see," a man said, standing in the doorway to the living room. 

"Hey dad," Adam said, giving a wave.

"What, all I get is a wave nowadays? C'mon, it's not like you're going to embarrass yourself in front of your boyfriend or anything," his dad said, putting his arms out for a hug. 

Adam rolled his eyes and got up, walking over to him and hugging him. His dad patted his back, "It's good to see you, we miss you being up here, you know."

"I know, dad," Adam said as he pulled away from the hug.

"They're still treating you well down there?" 

"Yes, it's fine down there. I mean, of course it is," he said, glancing at me with a smile. 

His father looked at me as well and nodded, "Well, you got me there, it has to be even the tiniest bit better."

He approached me and put his hand out for a handshake, "I'd give you a hug but I don't want to make you weird or anything so."

I shook his hand, "You'd be okay, but thanks. It's nice to meet you, sir."

"Oh, don't worry about the formalities, you can just call me Dominik if you want. You can call Karen by Karen as well, we really don't mind being called such. We're used to it with Rodney anyways."

As if he had heard his own name, Rodney entered the room and spotted Dominik and ran up to him, "Vati! Vati!"

Dominik looked down at Rodney and a wide smile crossed his face as he knelt down, "Hallo  kleiner! You're so… small now."

Rodney nodded as he threw his arms around him, hugging him tightly, "Missed you."

"Aw, I missed you too," Dominik replied, hugging him back, "any idea what your momma's making for dinner?"

"'paghetti!"

"Ooh, yes! I love her spaghetti, she doesn't make it that often anymore, you know. We do a lot of takeout nowadays, cooking is just a lot of work sometimes."

Karen entered the room, "Not that you would know, since you never cook."

Dominik glanced at her, "I don't cook because I know you're much better than I am. That's why I love you, you're better at a lot of things than I am."

"Well, I know that. You don't need to remind me," she said with a smile, "anyways, dinner's ready you guys."

Dominik stood up and picked Rodney up, "Well, let's go then, huh. I'm starving and I bet you are too. Did you guys happen to get lunch?"

"Yeah, we had McDonalds!"

"Well, that's good then, alright."

We headed into the kitchen and Adam and I made our plates, while Karen made up plates for Dominik, Rodney, and herself as Dominik was getting Rodney settled in at the table, having to grab a pillow from the other room for him to sit on so he was high enough at the table. We gathered around the table and began eating. 

"So, how's school been going for you two? Excited to almost be done?" Karen asked us. 

"It's been going, for sure. Doing quite well," Adam answered. 

I shrugged, "I'm both excited and terrified to be done, y'know. Excited because I can finally start my life and hopefully, um… y'know, get away from some of the drama in my life, but also terrified because I really gotta kick start my life."

"Well, I'm sure you'll figure it out, it is a bit scary, but it's also so freeing. You'll get it figured out, and know that if you need anything, we can help, even if we're all the way up here."

Dominik nodded in agreement, "Yes, of course, we know how much Adam matters to you and will help if you need it."

I smiled, "Well, thank you, that's very nice of you guys to say that."

Adam smiled as well, "Yeah, and I'm sure our brothers will help us a lot as well."

I nodded until it began to dawn on me that I never sent my message to Bryan earlier that day, "Uh, sorry, I, uh."

I dug my phone out of my pocket, "I think I forgot to text my brother earlier."

I pulled up our conversation and noticed some missed text messages, as well my drafted message still sitting there.

_ "3:12pm: Flynn where the fuck are you? _

_ 3:17pm: Are you fucking kidding me? _

_ 4:32pm: I cannot believe you _

_ 4:36pm: How could you not tell me? _

_ 5:02pm: why would you do this? _

_ 5:15pm: what did i do? _

_ 5:22pm: m sorry" _

As I was reading through the messages, another one came through. 

_ "7:26pm: olllease ttext me bback." _

_ "Hey!" _

_ "wwhhy didnt you tell me?"  _

_ "I was going to, I swear, I had a message drafted up and all, I just forgot." _

_ "fuckk you" _

_ "Hey, I really was, shit happened, okay? It's not the big of a deal anyways." _

_ "leaving ur bro behinndd is nott that big of a. deal?"  _

I rolled my eyes,  _ "I didn't think it would be, you wouldn't have wanted to come up here anyways, you have your friends and all that you always want to hang out with." _

_ "go fuck yourself merry fuckin chhristmas assshole"  _

I shoved my phone back into my pocket, shaking my head.

"Is everything okay?" Karen asked me. 

"Yeah, um, I just forgot to tell my brother I was coming here is all. Nothing to worry about."

Adam shot me a glance but let it go for the remainder of dinner. Once we were finished eating, we took our dishes to the sink and Adam and I volunteered to do the dishes while Dominik, Karen, and Rodney went to the living room to watch some movie. 

"I thought you told Bry before you even told your parents," Adam said to me as we were about halfway through the dishes. 

"No, I, uh, I forgot. I was going to but I just kept forgetting and then he left before I was even awake this morning, so. I was in the middle of texting him when you called and then I got distracted and I just… yeah." 

"Hmm, well, at least he knows now, right?" 

His phone began ringing and he dried his hands off the answer, "Hello?" 

"Hey," I heard Harry on the other end say, "you know your boyfriend's an ass, right?" 

"What?"

"Neither of you actually told Bry what was up today. I thought you guys did, so I didn't say anything since I figured he knew, but I got a text while at work asking where the hell Flynn went. Now he wants to be all rude to Bry for wondering where he was?" 

"I wasn't being rude," I said, rolling my eyes, "Adam, I wasn't being rude." 

Adam sighed, "Look, I don't want to deal with drama, I really don't. Bryan knows now, I thought Flynn told him earlier but, shit happens, he'll be fine, how's it affect him if he didn't know?" 

"Maybe he would've wanted to go with you guys?"

"Well, whatever, it's too late for anything like that to happen, it's not worth dwelling on it. Next time I'm sure we will remember to let him know, I guess." 

"Whatever. Have fun, I guess." 

Adam hung up and put his phone away, shaking his head, "I just want a nice Christmas with my family, is that too much to ask?" 

"No, because we're going to have it anyways, it'll be fine." 

"I hope so."

We finished up the dishes and headed out into the living room, seeing Rodney cuddled up to Karen, watching some movie with her and Dominik. Adam smiled and sat down on the couch, "So what are we watching?"

"I'm not really sure, it was just already playing and Rodney wanted to watch it," Karen answered.

I took a seat next to Adam, "I have no idea what it is either."

"Looks interesting," Adam commented, shrugging. 

As soon as whatever was playing was over, we went over to Netflix to look for a proper movie to watch. We ended up settling on Finding Nemo, as apparently when it first came out, it was Adam's favorite movie. 

"He watched it like twenty times in one week one time," Karen explained as we were watching the introduction. 

Dominik chuckled, "We had to hide it after like the hundredth play of it for a few days until Harry eventually found it and gave it back to him."

Adam shook his head, "I remember that, Harry only got it back to me because he was tired of me playing with his toys because I kept breaking them on accident. But then it backfired because I would just end up stealing some of his toys and playing with them as I watched the movie."

I laughed, "Sounds about right."

"Did you ever have an obsession with a movie as a kid, Flynn?" Dominik asked.

"Not a movie per say," Adam mumbled. 

I glared at him, shaking my head, "No, not really."

Adam glared at me, "C'mon, say it."

"Not when I was that young but… Fine, I was obsessed with Phineas and Ferb for a while."

"Was?"

Dominik took a moment to process what we were talking about and suddenly stifled a laugh, "Oh, oh no, don't tell me."

I sighed deeply, "Yes, I named myself Flynn on purpose and yes I dyed my hair teal to… to match Perry."

"It is his last name after all," Adam stated.

"Tough talk from the one who has a whole cosplay of Doofenshmirtz at home," I pointed out. 

Karen shook her head with a smile, "Well, I don't think any of that is anything to be ashamed of. From what I remember, it was a good show, I mean, it had to be if you guys liked it that much. Much better than some of those… other shows out there. There are surely some very interesting shows, especially nowadays. And I think Flynn suits you well as well as your hair, sweetie."

A shy smile formed across my face, "Oh, um, thank you, uh, that's very nice to say, I've never… had anyone really say that before."

"Aw, well, it's true. And Adam, you can't tease him like that when you are still just as obsessed as he is. And you were very obsessed when you were younger, don't lie. You cried when we forgot your lab coat at grandma's."

I heard Rodney giggle and Adam glanced at him, "Hey, you can't laugh at me for that. It meant a lot to me."

"'s funny," Rodney replied with a smirk. 

"No it's… whatever," Adam mumbled, flustered. 

Karen looked down at Rodney, "It's really not, honey, it did mean a lot to him. Do you have something you care a lot about?"

"Hmm, um, my plushie," Rodney answered.

"Okay, how would you feel if you left them somewhere you wouldn't be going back to for a very long time because you were very far away from there?"

"Umm, sad."

"Yeah, that's how Adam felt with his lab coat. So even though it sounds funny, it wasn't."

"Oh. Sorry."

"You got to apologize to Adam, not me."

Rodney looked back at Adam, frowning a bit, "Sorry Adam."

"It's okay," Adam said, reaching over to ruffle his hair, "but speaking of your plushie, I got to get them out of the car, huh? I'll be right back."

Adam got up and headed outside while the rest of us turned our attention back to the movie. Adam shortly got back with Rodney's plushie and a few other things, putting them by the stairs for us to take care of later. He handed Rodney his plushie and sat back down to me.

"Danks!" Rodney exclaimed, hugging it to his chest. 

"You're welcome."

While at that moment, it was peaceful, as the night was winding down, it was starting to become a disaster. We had just finished the movie and it was past ten o'clock but Rodney was still wide awake.

"Alright, it's time for bed," I said, getting up.

He began whining, "Noo! Stay wit' momma and vati!"

"Kid, they need to go get sleep too. All of us do. You get to stay with Adam and me, though," I said as I picked him up.

He continued to whine our entire way up the stairs. I set him down on the bed. I grabbed some pajamas and I began trying to dress Rodney in them. He squirmed as he continued to whine.

"C'mon kiddo, just work with me here."

He started to cry, "Want momma and vati! I-I... I want my mom… I miss her."

I was a bit taken aback by the mention of his mom, he rarely talked about her, "I know kiddo. Hey... I have an idea. Why don't you write a letter to her? That's what my dad did when he lost his mom. He would write letters to her, saying how he missed her."

"Will she read 'em?" He asked.

"Yeah, of course, kiddo. C'mon, let's finish getting you dressed and then you can write a letter alright?"

"O'ay," he mumbled, allowing me to dress him.

Once he was in his pajamas I grabbed a notebook and pencil. I sat down on the bed and pulled him into my lap.

"Alright, here you go. I'll help you. You start off with Dear..," I continued to explain to him how to write the letter. I helped him write it as he came up with what to write. I would help him correct his mistakes as well.

"Dear mama,

I miss you so much. I miss your stories. I miss your kisses goodnight. I wish you were back here. Having Flynn and Adam is nice but I want you too. I love you, mama.

Love,

Rodney."

He looked at me, "Now what?"

"Now we put it in an envelope and we address it to your mom," I said, folding the letter and getting up. I found an envelope and handed it to Rodney along with the letter. He inserted the letter into the envelope.

"Now we have to address it to her. What's her name kiddo?"

"Uh. I unno," he said, shrugging.

I looked at Adam for an answer.

"Isabelle Myers. He literally named his daughter after her," Adam responded.

"Alright," I said, writing it down on the envelope, "Now we put heaven as the address. Do you want to write that kiddo?"

He nodded and took the pencil, writing "Heaven" just below her name as I helped him spell it. 

"There we go. Anytime you miss her just write a letter to her. She'll get it, trust me."

"O'ay," he mumbled.

I put the letter on the dresser and picked Rodney up, "You alright now?"

He nodded and let out a yawn. I laid him down on the bed between Adam and I. I got up to turn the light off before getting back into bed. 

"Can you tell me a story?" He asked.

I nodded and began telling him a story. He fell asleep five minutes into it and I smiled. I glanced at Adam and noticed he was also dozing off. 

"I love you, babe," I whispered as I gave him a kiss on the cheek. 

"Night love," he mumbled out. 

I smiled and lied down properly and went to sleep myself. 


End file.
